Paradoxical Parallels
by Night's Darkness
Summary: Someone is blowing up planets and it'll take people from the past, the future and the right kind of Doctor to save the Federation before its even begun. Massive crossover, EntDWTorchSG1.
1. Chapter 1

Ok, this is a sequel to Split Parallels. It's a massive crossover fic of four of the best known sci-fi shows, two from America (Enterprise and Stargate SG1) and two from Britain (Doctor Who and Torchwood). I'm going to try and stay true to all four shows canon, and blend them together as seamlessly as possible. Constructive Reviews are considered a great help and are greatly appreciated.

**Important for anyone who's never read any of my fics!! (and may be handy for anyone who has)**

Ok, this is set about one and a half to two years after the end of Terra Prime (ignoring TATV completely). It is linked to my Mirror Series and a Season 5 I do plan to write eventually, but haven't found the inclination yet as well as being a sequel. Couple of things to note,

1) Trip and T'Pol are an official couple now, and have been for a year.

2) Shran is on Enterprise

3) Archer, T'Pol and Shran are co-captains of Enterprise and have been for a year.

4) Shran and T'Pol have a son called Soval, who was born to the Mirror-Universe version of them. When the Mirror Shran and T'Pol died, our T'Pol took him with her and she and Shran are raising him as friends with a child. Thus, over the year they have become very close and are good friends (although I love their banter too much to cut it out completely, lol).

5) Archer is involved with Shran's sister Lissiel and is most likely in love with her, even if he's too dense to realise it.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Captain Archer's personal log, July 30th 2156. We're on route to Vulcan to join Minister T'Pau and Ambassador Soval in the official celebration of the discovery of the Kir'Shara. Shran has elected not to join us as he's liable to die of heat stroke _inside_ the shuttlecraft and, as he put it, if the heat doesn't kill him, then his certain boredom will."

Archer chuckled to himself as he said this. Porthos let out a little impatient woof as he watched his master open a packet of food absentmindedly, more focused on his log. "T'Pol and Shran had a little argument over where little Soval will be staying during the celebration. In the end T'Pol won since Soval has spent more time on Andoria than Vulcan. Shran's argument for this was that Soval doesn't even know where his nose is, let alone where he's sleeping. The man has an answer for everything. Still T'Pol won in the end. I understand she, Soval and Trip will be staying in her mother's house. Ambassador Soval has invited me to join him at his house, and he'll show me the sights. I've agreed… eagerly."

Archer paused the recording to muse on his choice of words as he set down the metal bowl in front of his beagle. Porthos gave him a brief lick of gratitude before digging in. Archer petted the silky soft skin of his dog and straightened up, ready to resume his recording.

Then everything went mad.

The whole ship lurched to one side and seemed to spin over and over like a leaf caught in a storm. When Archer came to his senses Porthos was barking near him, his quarters were a complete mess, and the alarms were blaring.

"Captains Archer and T'Pol to the bridge." called Hoshi. Her voice was trembling a little.

"On my way." said Archer, running out of his quarters. Engineers were running to and fro as he ran to the turbolift. "T'Pol! Hold it!"

T'Pol, having just boarded the turbolift, held it for him. Archer half dived into it and caught himself against the wall.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded to no one.

"I don't know. But it felt like the aftershock of a large explosion."

"A _very_ large explosion."

The door slid open and the two entered the bridge. Shran was hovering over Hoshi, barking orders at her, something he only did when he was panicked. And Archer and T'Pol could admit it took a lot to panic their fellow Captain.

"Sir, I've checked three times. It's confirmed." Hoshi was saying as they came in.

"Check again Ensign." ordered Shran.

"Shran? What happened?"

Shran straightened up to look at Archer and T'Pol. His antennas were squirming and almost touching his head. The Andorian was very alarmed.

"I don't want to say yet. Ensign!"

"I've checked again! It's gone sir."

"How the hell is that possible? Lieutenant McCarthy?"

"I concur with Ensign Sato, but I have no explanation."

"Shran!" snapped Archer. Shran grimaced and turned to his co-captains.

"I'm not sure how to say this." The Andorian drew in a deep breath. "Vulcan just blew up."

There was silence save for the blaring of alarms and the hum of the engines. T'Pol recovered her voice first.

"I beg your pardon?" Her voice was strained. Shran shrugged, looking helpless.

"I don't know what happened, one minute everything was fine and the next… Vulcan was gone. It's all gone."

"Are you certain?"

"I've had McCarthy and Sato confirm it four times now."

T'Pol's face went very pale and Archer and Shran went to stand near her in case she collapsed or something.

"There was no warning?" asked the Vulcan woman.

Shran shook his head. T'Pol staggered to the captain's chair and sat down heavily in it. She sat there, staring into nothing, face almost grey in colour. Archer hovered near her, while Shran stood a little further away, looking uncertain.

Hoshi's comm. beeped.

"It's Starfleet sir."

Shran sighed, "I'll take it. Maybe you should take T'Pol to sickbay Jon."

"No. I wish to hear what Starfleet has to say." said T'Pol, standing up.

"Ok. We'll take it in the ready room." said Archer. T'Pol got to her feet and walked, looking just a little unsteady. Shran and Archer followed her. What else could they do?

T'Pol sat down behind the desk while Archer and Shran grabbed chairs and dragged them over. T'Pol activated the consol. Admiral Gardner seemed startled to see them all, but it became obvious that the Admiral was in a bit of a daze as he spoke.

"Captains… I assume you know what just happened?"

"My home world exploded." stated T'Pol, sounding a tad dazed herself. Shran and Archer threw her concerned looks. Gardner flinched. "I would like an explanation."

"So would we and every other person in this part of the galaxy. I'm very sorry Captain T'Pol, but we don't have any answers yet. I've been informed that Ambassador Soval's transport ship has altered course to rendezvous with you. You'll meet with him and then… we'll have to see. We've no procedure for such a thing like this." Gardner threw T'Pol a regretful look and cut the commlink.

The three officers sat in silence for a few moments. Then T'Pol stood up.

"I will go check on our son."

"Good idea." said Shran, nodding, "I'm going to see Trip and find out how much damage was done."

"I'll… I'll see if I can find out anything about what happened." said Archer. The others nodded and they went their separate ways.

* * *

T'Pol entered sickbay to find her son crying. However this stopped as soon as Soval saw his mother. He held his arms out to her and squealed,

"Mama!" making grabby motions with his hands. T'Pol picked him up and held him close to her body. Soval beamed a toothy grin at her, and put his arms around her neck, hugging her.

T'Pol held her son close, closing her eyes and trying to keep herself in control as she absorbed what had just happened. Her home planet had been completely obliterated. It was impossible. Yet it had happened. Vulcan was gone.

T'Pol found herself thinking about her childhood home, about the location where she'd laid her mother to rest after the events of finding the Kir'Shara, Mount Seleya and the Fire Plains of Raal. All of that was gone, in less than a second.

T'Pol felt like she was in a dream, a very bad one. But the pain in her stomach, which she'd identified as grief, told her she was wide awake.

Phlox approached her, looking solemn. By now the whole crew probably knew what had happened. That took less than ten minutes T'Pol noted, feeling a little numb.

"Are you all right?"

"I am… not. My home world is gone. Everything is gone." T'Pol's voice trembled and soon her body followed it, shaking hard. "Everything is gone." T'Pol struggled to control herself but found a few tears spilling out over her eyelashes, and falling down her cheeks.

"I am sorry." said Phlox. What else could he say? T'Pol nodded.

"I believe I will return to my quarters now."

"Of course. Would you like me to walk with you?"

"No. I'll be fine." T'Pol backed out of sickbay and began to walk down the corridor. Soval was quiet, as if he sensed something wasn't right. His antennas brushed T'Pol's skin, just behind her ear and his little arms tightened around her neck as he buried his face in her neck.

"Mama." he said again. T'Pol rubbed his back as she walked, concentrating on holding her son and putting one foot in front of the other. She was surprised when she seemed to blink and found herself in her quarters. Soval wiggled in her grip and T'Pol set him down on the floor. She noted only now that Shran had dressed him in a miniature replica of Starfleet's jumpsuit, with padded knees so he could crawl around unheeded.

The jumpsuit had been a gift from Hoshi for Soval's first birthday. Shran had made a joking order that next year their comm. officer was to give Soval a miniature Imperial Guard uniform. T'Pol could remember that she'd said it would be better that Soval receive a uniform of the Vulcan Science Academy. Shran had thrown her a look that had told her not to even consider it, while the rest of the crew laughed.

T'Pol remembered yearning for her mother's presence as her son celebrated his first year of life. For some reason that memory seemed significant now.

Soval shuffled along on his bum to reach the box of bricks. The bricks were from Cirrus IV, and when Soval picked them up they would flash various colours inside a material that looked like frosted glass. When they were built into a tower, they flashed in a specific design and hummed a tune to match. Trip called them the 'Close Encounter of the Third Kind' blocks. Shran had bought them for his son while he was dealing with a few old associates on Cirrus IV.

Soval grabbed the box and pulled it towards himself. The box tipped and fell, spilling its contents all over the floor with a rumble. T'Pol drew in a sharp breath as a jolt of anger flew through her at the noise. However the feeling was short lived as Soval looked up at her, as if he knew the noise had disturbed his mother. His big brown eyes, which were just like hers, were anxious, and his cupid's bow lips were shaped into a worried pout.

T'Pol crouched down and picked up a block. It lit up and began to flash from lilac to rose to mint. Soval reached out for it. T'Pol placed it in his hand.

"You play with it Soval." she murmured. Soval shuffled closer to the blocks on his bum again and began to play with them, unaware of his mother's trauma.

T'Pol watched her son, sitting ridged on the edge of her bed.

"_Tucker to T'Pol."_

T'Pol jumped. Soval glanced up at the sound of Uncle Trip's voice then returned to his blocks. T'Pol reached out blindly and pressed the correct button.

"T'Pol here."

"_T'Pol, look, I'm so sorry, but Enterprise took a real hit from the shockwave and I have to stay and help out. I promise I'll be with ya as soon as I can."_

"I did not ask for your presence Trip." T'Pol's voice sounded far away to her own ears.

"_I know, but I don't want you to think I ain't with you 'cause I don't care. I do. A lot. I promise, as soon as I get this done, I'll be with you right away." _

T'Pol was slightly perplexed, but she merely said

"Understood." and cut the link.

* * *

Trip inwardly swore. The tone T'Pol was using wasn't a good sign. He turned to Shran who was standing nearby.

"Cap'n… do you think you could stay with her while I work here?"

Shran blinked, nonplussed. "Me? Why me?"

"'cause… you two have a good relationship. I just don't want her to be left alone."

"Trip, I appreciate that you're concerned for your mate, but what the hell could I do?"

"Please, for me, so I can focus on this work properly, will you stay with her until I can get away to be with her? She shouldn't be alone after this… I mean would you wanna be alone if your whole planet blew up?"

Shran sighed and shook his head, pushing off the wall he'd been leaning against. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks Shran. Ah appreciate it."

Shran nodded and walked out of Engineering, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Trip sighed and resumed his work, trying to put the fact that billions of people had just died out of his mind.

* * *

Shran stood outside T'Pol's quarters, waiting for her to acknowledge the door chime. After a few moments with no response, he balanced the tray he had in one hand and knocked on the door.

"T'Pol?"

There was no answer. However Shran could hear Soval's intrigued babble at the sound of his voice. "T'Pol? Can I come in?"

"I would prefer to be alone." came the answer. Shran sighed. He'd guessed as much.

"I get that, I know Vulcans like solitude. It's just that… well, Soval hasn't eaten since breakfast and I'm sure he's getting hungry. I've got food for him here with me." After a beat he added, "I also got some Plomeek broth from Chef for you."

Shran shifted on his feet, feeling very out of place as silence was the only answer he got. He'd wracked his brain, trying to think of a way to coax T'Pol to let him into her quarters so he could keep an eye on her like Trip had asked. He'd decided to try the same method that worked on his sister, namely, Food. Shran had found that, whenever a female was upset, food or mating seemed to help. Since the latter would not be happening for a variety of reasons –namely Commander Tucker would kill him- food had been the only thing he'd been able to come up with.

At last, slightly concerned for his son and his friend, Shran set the tray on the ground and crouched down in front of the consol that controlled the door. With a few 'persuasive' codes entered into the computer the door opened and Shran was able to dart in, remembering to grab the tray at the last second.

Inside T'Pol's quarters, it was very dark, with the frosted flashing of the Cirrus IV bricks. Soval had constructed them into an impressive pyramid-like tower. T'Pol was sitting on the edge of the bed, and she didn't turn to look at Shran as he entered and set the tray down on T'Pol's desk.

"I said I wished to be alone."

"I know… but we're worried about you." said Shran, favouring bluntness.

"There is no need to be concerned. I will be fine."

"T'Pol your planet just blew up, less than half an hour ago. No one would blame you for getting upset over it."

"I am Vulcan, I must control my emotions."

Shran opened his mouth to argue with her, but Soval cut him off.

"Papa!"

Shran smiled at the sweet sound of his son's voice and crouched down in front of Soval, tapping his nose in greeting.

"Hello my boy."

Soval giggled and held out his arms, wanting to be lifted up. Shran did so and sat down by the desk, setting Soval in his lap. Soval eyed the bottle on the tray with interest, but Shran offered him a spoonful of mincemeat, that swam in Andorian-styled gravy instead. Soval looked up at his father with a little look of disgust and Shran's antennas rose in a paternally-stern way. Soval pouted and then opened his mouth, accepting his lunch.

T'Pol watched Shran feed Soval, a strange look on her face.

"It is strange."

"What is?"

"A great catastrophe has occurred. Our son has just lost half his heritage and you give him lunch at the same time as you always do."

Shran shrugged. "A child has to eat, no matter what happens."

T'Pol nodded, looking away. Shran sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to ignore what happened, but… what else can we do without finding out what happened?"

"Nothing will bring Vulcan back."

"No. But at least you'll know what caused this. And think about it this way… At least there's Vulcan colonies, so there are still Vulcans out there. You're not alone."

"… I can't think of that yet."

"All right. But… think of this." Shran set down the spoon and lifted Soval up so the babe was standing on Shran's knees. It looked like Shran was presenting Soval. "You're not alone on this ship either."

T'Pol looked away, and Shran did likewise out of respect when a few tears escaped her eyes.

Soval took his bottle eagerly after his food, clinging to his bottle like he always did when he got one. Shran looked at T'Pol, unsure if he should say anything.

"May I feed him his bottle?"

Shran blinked in surprise when T'Pol spoke. "Sure. Here."

He stood up and placed the baby in T'Pol's waiting arms. Soval barely noticed, more intent on his bottle than his parents. Shran sighed, looking out at the stars. He rested a hand on the bulkhead above his head, leaning on it as he stared out into space.

"Things don't look so different out there. Do they?"

"They don't look any different at all." said T'Pol. Shran sighed, shaking his head. Then he pushed away from the window and sat down beside T'Pol, resting his elbows on his thighs and clasping his hands together.

T'Pol watched Soval drink from his bottle.

Shran reached out and picked up one of the blocks. It started flashing blue at him.

Soval let go of the teat of the bottle and let out a burp.

T'Pol rubbed his back and then offered him the unfinished bottle.

Soval finished it off and then wriggled free of his mother's arms and lap.

He crawled away and resumed playing with his blocks.

T'Pol shifted where she sat and folded her hands in her lap, then let them fall apart limply. They rested on her thighs, looking useless.

Shran propped up his head in one hand and he watched Soval play. The block in his other hand flashed rose.

Soval looked at the block and reached out a hand for it.

Shran handed it over.

Soval gave him a little smile and patted his hand in gratitude.

A faint smile crossed Shran's face.

Soval shifted on his bum to turn back to his tower. He paused as his eyes locked with his mother's.

T'Pol stared into her son's eyes and looked away.

Soval leaned forward and got to his hands and knees. He crawled over to T'Pol and used her knee to pull himself to his feet. He tottered for a moment like a drunken man before finding his balance, his little antennas splayed out to maintain it. He looked up at T'Pol's face.

"Mama." he called, reaching up with one little hand.

T'Pol looked at him and reached out with one hand, taking hold of his pudgier one. She swallowed hard. That single word seemed to make a crack in her mask and more tears fell now.

Shran put a hesitant hand on her shoulder and said nothing.

* * *

Reviews are greatly appreciated, and I'm trying to make this as plausible as possible (in Whovian, SG1 and Ent terms anyway.)

Night's Darkness


	2. Chapter 2

Just gonna answer a few reviewers.

pookha: I did not know that Vulcans could sense when others died. I always assumed they couldn't because they are touch telepaths. But then again I tend to avoid TOS like the plague due to my dislike of Shatner. Also, interesting idea that the planets had just been moved, but I'm afraid that they are certainly blowing up. It's more dramatic that way! Lol.

firebirdgirl: You're a delightfully loyal reader, and always very encouraging, so I just wanna say thanks, and yes, the culprits are deader than doornails when this lot get their hands on 'em. If they can find them that is.

Firewolfe: I hope you like this series as much as the last one.

framework4: The reason that there are co-captains on Enterprise at the moment will be explained at some point in this fic. In my fics it is possible.

Enjoy the next chapter, we're off to the 31st century now!

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Daniels groaned as his alarm went off. He reached out blindly and smacked it hard. It ignored this and continued to blare at him. Daniels smacked it again, and still it didn't shut up.

"Wha-?"

Daniels pulled his head out from under the covers and glared at his alarm clock. About a thousand years since the original invention of the alarm clock and the damn thing had barely changed. It still annoyed the hell out of those who weren't morning people.

Daniels glare changed to confused when he found a small PADD stuck to it. It was about the size of a 21st century paper Post It and was pale blue with bright orange writing. With a muffled groan Daniels grabbed the PADD and read the note on it.

"_Hey Jack! _

_Just so you know, you asked me to make sure you woke up today, so I set the alarm to 'sensory mode'. It won't stop until you get up and if you try to get back into the bed it'll go off even louder. _

_Have fun!_

_Henry."_

Daniels groaned again and buried his face in his pillow before pulling himself out of bed. As he staggered to the bathroom the alarm shut itself off. Daniels sighed to himself in relief and then shouted,

"HENRY!"

There was no answer. Clearly, as usual, his roommate had been up, had breakfast, washed and dressed, and gone to work at the Time Agency. And as Daniels got out of the sonic shower –which he swore had only taken five minutes- he realised he was late _again_!

Swearing in Klingon and wondering how he had lost time, Daniels threw on his uniform and grabbed a quick nutrition bar that tasted like plasma residue. He mused on how it would make more sense for Henry to wake him up when he himself was getting up. Henry was never late, and if Daniels got up with him, he wouldn't be either. However, Henry would inform him that he only woke him up to amuse himself and not to serve Daniels in any way. This thought made Daniels smile to himself as he transported to the Time Agency.

The Time Agency was located in Cardiff, for a few reasons, one being that the rest of Earth had become very sick of America holding all the major buildings involved in the Federation. A United Earth –one politician had stated- did not mean they were all Americans, nor did it mean that America was in charge of United Earth. Malcolm Reed had been used as a prime example of non-American contributories to Starfleet more than once. Daniels felt sorry for his descendants. He knew how they felt very well.

The Time Agency was a beautiful building, built near the Roald Dahl Plass, and was shaped like an hourglass, and made of glass and metal for the most part. The very centre of the building, when observed from a distance, looked like black obsidian powder caught in the bottom of the top half and the top of the bottom half. Daniels was often reminded of the hourglass from the original Wizard of Oz movie, staring Judy Garland, which the Wicked Witch of the West uses when she has Dorothy trapped in the castle -in the 2134 version the witch had used a strange timer that Daniels felt lacked the imposing character of the original hourglass. This was reinforced by the fact that many people regarded the Time Agency with some suspicion.

Daniels barely had a chance to glance around the reception area with a little grin as he always did when he arrived, before he was tackled from behind and dragged along by the waist, the toes of his boots squeaking across the floor.

"Jack! About time! Where've you been?"

"Henry –Ack!" Daniels didn't have time to ask his roommate and partner any questions as he was yanked by the stronger man down a corridor and into the central area of the Time Agency. There it was absolute chaos. Everyone was running around and the head of the Agency was screaming at absolutely everyone. "Henry hide me!"

"What?" Henry's antennas squirmed on top of his head, as he frowned at Daniels, who was ducking down a little.

"Agerton is on the rampage and we both know that if he sees me it'll somehow be-"

"Daniels!"

"-my fault." Daniels straightened up trying to look calm. "Yessir?"

"Daniels you're not only late, you're in serious bullshit!"

Admiral Agerton may have been half Denobulan, but it was clear his Romulan side won out in personality. He was tall, thickset and instead of a full Denobulan grin, he had an accentuated frown. And right now that was directed at Daniels full force and only grew when Daniels blurted,

"What kind of bullshit sir?"

Henry snorted and both Daniels and Agerton glared at the blue skin.

"You too Theres." said Agerton, pointing at Henry. Henry looked nonplussed as he pointed to himself.

"Me?"

"Yes you! You're Daniels' partner."

"Yessir, but he's the one who always screws things up."

"Thanks for the support Henry."

"Oh shut it pink-skin!" snapped Henry.

"Gentlemen! Vulcan just exploded in _your_ timeframe! I trust you two are prepared to handle this situation?"

Daniels blinked in alarm, "Vulcan just blew up!? How'd that happen?"

"We don't know yet. That's your job. Which you were late to."

"As you already pointed out sir."

Agerton sighed, his vivid blue eyes flashing, "It baffles me as to how you can work at the Time Agency and still be late every day."

"In all fairness sir… he does screw up the timeline a lot." said Henry, a wry grin on his face.

"Seriously Henry, stop showing your love and support of me so obviously. People will talk." sneered Daniels as he rubbed a hand over his face and head. He noted that his hairline was beginning to recede. True, he'd always had a high forehead, but Daniels couldn't lie to himself that it seemed to be getting higher.

"Both of you get to work NOW!" roared Agerton. Daniels and Henry scurried away like the fires of hell were after them.

They hid in their office and quickly downloaded all the data on the incident. As they were about to start discussing it, the doors burst open in an overly dramatic way and their friend Klaang entered the scene.

"You've heard?"

"Oh we have! We're gonna fix it Klaang." said Henry, trying to sound placating. Klaang, who was more or less fully Vulcan, was about as temperamental as… well, a Vulcan, despite his Klingon name. Thus, there was very little need for Henry to try to placate him.

"I'm sure you will. You always fix Daniels' screw ups."

"Hey! This is not my fault!" snapped Daniels, looking up from his consol.

"Of course." Klaang's voice almost dripped with patronising sincerity. Funny how Vulcans were able to be emotionless masters of sarcasm. Daniels growled. He hated the fact that he had a reputation for screwing up the timeline, just because he'd been involved in the Temporal Cold War three years ago and had had to fix the messes caused by it. "I hope you can figure out a way to bring Vulcan back. I don't want my homeworld gone forever."

"Don't worry Klaang –uh oh!" Henry's eyes widened in alarm as he stared at the consol.

"What?"

Henry looked up at Daniels. He was going white. "The day after Vulcan blows up… Andoria does too."

* * *

"Ambassador, how are you doing?" asked Archer as Soval entered the Captain's mess.

"I am well, considering the circumstances." Soval looked old and tired to Archer as he sat down. His face was a grey colour and he had dark green circles under his eyes. T'Pol, already seated at the table, did not look much better.

"I don't know what to say." said Archer, hating the fact that there was no words for such a situation as this.

"There are no words. Not yet."

The door hissed open and Shran entered, Soval in his arms. The baby was sucking his thumb and his antennas were slacked, like he was sleepy. Shran's antennas matched his son's.

"Morning." he grunted as he set Soval in his highchair and sat down. "How're you two?" he asked the Vulcans.

"I am well." said Ambassador Soval, but he didn't quite meet Shran's eyes and Shran looked dubious. T'Pol said nothing.

"Have we heard anything from the investigation?"

"Not yet. They're reluctant to approach the very site because of high levels of radiation coming from where… where it happened." Archer couldn't bring himself to say, 'where Vulcan used to be'. It was far too soon. Shran nodded in understanding.

"I still can't believe it's gone. I always assumed it would be there forever, supplying me with a never-ending amount of pains in my ass."

Both T'Pol and Ambassador Soval looked at Shran, but neither seemed upset over his joke. Rather they seemed to pick up the sadness underneath it and understand. Shran propped his head up in his hands, and stared out over Ambassador Soval's head at the stars. Their breakfast was delivered a few moments later. The crewmen were quicker than they'd ever been. Apparently they could sense the tension and awkwardness between the four people.

T'Pol and Ambassador Soval began to sip their Plomeek Broth and Shran and Archer dug into their pancakes without enthusiasm. Little Soval looked around at them all and reached out for the small spoon in his bowl of mushy pumpkin –or whatever that was. He tried to put it in his mouth but missed and got it all over his face and bib. Shran sighed and took hold of the spoon, cleaned Soval and then proceeded to feed him with one hand while the Andorian fed himself with the other. Soval kicked the tray of his high chair to amuse himself, but stopped when Shran's antennas rose up in a warning manner. He was still and quiet after that.

"He has grown since I last saw him." said Ambassador Soval.

"He gets bigger every week. He'll be a big strong young boy soon." said Shran with fierce pride.

"Indeed." Ambassador Soval nodded his approval. Shran smiled a little, then frowned for a moment, before letting out a yell like he'd just been stabbed. He grabbed his head and fell off his seat screaming in agony. Soval started screaming too, his hands jerking towards his head and he writhed in his chair while Shran writhed on the floor.

Archer jumped to his feet and crouched down by Shran's side, trying to hold him down.

"Shran what is it?"

Shran didn't answer, but his eyes rolled back into his head and he began to tremble, like he was going into shock. Soval's screams halted and Archer looked up to see him trembling in T'Pol's arms the exact same way. T'Pol's expression was one of almost open concern. Archer leapt at the comm.

"Archer to Phlox, get down here NOW!"

* * *

"They both went into shock at the same time Andoria _what_?"

"At the same time Andoria blew up." sighed Malcolm, who'd been in command on the bridge that morning when Shran and Soval had collapsed. "We got the message just after we heard what had happened to Shran and Soval. It looks like it's the same as what happened to Vulcan. We just got reports that every Andorian not on the planet went into shock due to the backlash of every one of their relations on Andoria dying so suddenly."

Archer paced across the centre of sickbay, his mind reeling from what he'd just been told. As he turned to pace back to Malcolm, he glanced at Shran, lying on the biobed, unconscious. He was as white as an Aenar. Lying on his chest was Soval, clinging to his father's shirt as he slept, little antennas drooping in misery. Phlox had had to work double time to save their lives, and had found that both Andorian and half-Andorian were soothed when they were in close proximity to one another. It had been T'Pol's idea to lay Soval on Shran's chest. This was the way Soval normally took his afternoon naps when Shran had him, while his father did paperwork.

T'Pol stood next to them, one hand rubbing her son's back, and the other was clutching Trip's tightly. She seemed to be struggling to maintain her control on her emotions.

'_This is ridiculous! How is this happening? And why would two planets, lightyears from each other blow up within a day of each other? This makes no sense!'_

It was at that moment it hit Archer that Andoria was gone… that Lissiel was gone.

'_Lissiel.'_

Archer may not have really understood where they had stood in their relationship, but he had understood that, in her own unique way, Lissiel had cared about him, and he'd cared for her. Maybe even loved her. And now she was just gone.

Grief welled up in Archer's throat as he wondered whether she'd felt any pain when it had happened. Maybe it had been too quick to feel any pain. He wondered how he hadn't realised this loss until just now. Lissiel was Shran's sister. He should have made the connection. But he hadn't. Everything was happing at once. Archer was having trouble keeping up.

Shran groaned and his antennas shifted forward. Archer looked at him and grimaced. This would not go well.

Shran reached up with one hand and pressed it to his brow.

"Oh my head…" he muttered. Then his eyes popped open and he sat up with a jolt. Soval woke up, and didn't fall,but began crying. Shran looked around like a trapped animal, his eyes unfocused. His arms wrapped around Soval in an automatic movement, rocking the baby. Archer realised he was looking for the bond all Andorians share with their family. All of it was gone, from his siblings to all his cousins and nieces and nephews… tears came into Archer's eyes as he thought of how many people Shran had just lost. Had T'Pol lost as many people? Had Ambassador Soval? Archer hadn't asked. He should have asked!

"Pink-skin?" Shran sounded lost as he met Archer's eyes. There was vulnerability in the Andorian's chocolate brown eyes. That wasn't right. Shran was rarely vulnerable, and when he was, he didn't let it show. "What happened Pink-skin?"

"Andoria… Andoria exploded just like Vulcan, Shran. I'm so sorry."

Shran stared at him, his mouth open a little. "M-my family? They're all gone, except for him." Shran looked down at Soval who was still whimpering, although he'd stopped crying. Shran shook his head, "No… it can't be. My sisters, my brothers… Senkrad… Sen can't be gone."

"Andoria exploded at 0823 hours. You collapsed at the exact same moment."

Shran's jaw trembled, and he held Soval tight. The Andorian shook his head, "No. It can't be. Andoria… Andoria was supposed to last forever. We fought so it could last forever. How… why…?" Shran's face went from distraught to hard as stone in the blink of an eye. "Who? Who did this?"

"We don't know yet, but we're trying to figure it out."

"That won't bring them back, will it?" hissed Shran, now trembling with fury.

"No… no it won't."

"I'll kill them. Whoever did this… I will kill them!"

"Shran… please, calm down."

"Calm down, _calm down_? Would you want to calm down if it was Earth that blew up? Would you want to calm down if it was your family that had just been murdered? Would you!?"

"No… no… I wouldn't."

Shran got off the biobed, leaning on it when his legs trembled. Then he drew himself up and walked over to Archer, bringing his face right into Archer's. "When I find out who did this I will hunt them down and I will kill them. And you know as well as I do that if you were in my position you'd do the same thing!"

Archer sighed, knowing he would get nowhere with reason with the Andorian. And truth was, he did want to kill the person behind this –if there was one. Billions and billions of people, men, women, children… Lissiel, all gone. Someone had to pay! Archer nodded.

"Good." growled Shran. "Now… what do we know?"

* * *

"We know nothing?!"

Daniels pinched the bridge of his nose at Agerton's exclamation. "How can it be that you know nothing?"

"Sir, I swear we have been trying. But there's nothing to explain how a planet that was supposed to exist for millions of years more just blew up." said Henry, standing straight and proud, as Andorians always did.

"We also have no idea why we aren't affected by it sir." added Daniels, slouching in his seat.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are we still here? Why is everything as it was when Vulcan was around? Our 31st century Vulcan is still there. Only in the 22nd century planet is it gone."

"That makes no sense!"

"It's a paradox. And we need to figure out how it's being maintained."

"You think the Cabal have anything to do with it?"

"No, doesn't look like it. These signatures we've found aren't normal for their weapons."

"Well then you two know what you have to do."

"Aw sir! Do we have to?" groaned Henry. Agerton grabbed Henry by the front of his shirt and brought them nose to nose. Henry's eyes widened and his antennas squirmed in alarm.

"This is your problem and if you don't fix it, it's not just your ass on the line! The entire timeline could be screwed up! The fate of the Federation itself could very well be in your hands. Now get going!"

"Yessir!" Henry saluted Agerton and pulled himself out of Agerton's grasp, "C'mon Jack."

Daniels lifted his head up and opened his mouth to say something, but Henry grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out of the room before he could say anything more than "Erk!"

* * *

What do people think of Henry? Just curious really, and I will explain why he's got such a human name for an Andorian soon enough, I promise. And has anyone any theories what's happening? I know, but can anyone hazard a guess?

Night's Darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

School sucks! I've been run off my feet and out of my mind, which is why this is so late. So sorry.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Trip rubbed his brow, feeling very useless as he watched Shran, T'Pol, and Ambassador Soval converse in quiet tones in the darkest corner of the mess. Shran had Little Soval in his lap. Since Shran had awoken from his shock, all three of them had retreated from everyone else, and only spoke to each other. Trip knew each of them was experiencing their own grief and needed time to deal with it, but he wished there was something he could do to help his lover, T'Pol, and his friend, Shran. Yet he'd been wracking his brains for hours now and had come up with nothing.

"Leave them be Trip. They're both very private people, I think what's best is to let them alone." said Malcolm, sipping at his tea.

"Malcolm! Their planets have just blown up. This isn't like a death of a loved one, their whole planet's gone! Their entire families have been obliterated."

"And I'm sure they want you reminding them. They have better hearing than us you twat! They can probably hear everything you're saying." hissed Malcolm, looking annoyed.

"Did you just call me a twat?" Trip stared at Malcolm in bewilderment. Malcolm flushed,

"I believe I did. But only because you are being one by talking so loud."

"Ok fine! I'm just worried about them."

"I know, so am I. However we both know neither Captain T'Pol, nor Captain Shran like being fussed over. So… just let them be for now, at least until we figure out why this has happened."

Trip opened his mouth to answer when there was a flash of light and two figures appeared in the middle of the Mess, on top of a table. Malcolm jumped to his feet at once. The two men were dressed in all black leather uniforms. One of them Trip recognised at once, and the other was an Andorian who grinned sheepishly as he looked around from his viewpoint at the startled crew.

"Whoops! Sorry folks. We were supposed to land in the Ready Room." he said, before turning to Daniels who looked embarrassed. "Nice going Jack."

"Well next time you can enter the coordinates while Agerton is roaring at you about the fate of the universe and we'll see how exact you get it." said Daniels, sounding exasperated. "I still don't understand why you didn't stay behind this time. You never come with me to the Enterprise."

"And stay in the same building as Agerton when he's in this kind of mood? I think not!" The Andorian jumped lightly off the table and looked around. When his eyes landed on Shran, who'd also gotten to his feet, his grin widened. "God I love this job. I'd even put up working with you Jack to do it."

"Thanks Henry." sighed Daniels, jumping down of the table.

"Daniels what the hell are you doing here?" demanded Trip, getting to his feet.

Daniels opened his mouth but in the half second it took to do that Shran had crossed the mess and grabbed him by the throat, choking him. Daniels gagged and pulled at the hand, but Andorians had notoriously strong grip, so he hadn't a hope of getting Shran to let go.

"Daniels? You're that Time Traveller I read about in the mission logs. The one that always causes catastrophes. You're behind this, aren't you! You're behind my family being dead!"

Trip wasn't sure if he wanted to stop Shran. Any time Daniels had shown up, things has become very dangerous and Trip knew that Daniels had something to do with everything that was happening. Why else would he have shown up?

"Please Captain Shran, I assure you we are not the ones responsible for what's happened to the planets, but we are here to fix it. If we can figure out who or what is behind this and stop it, then we should be able to restore Vulcan and Andoria. Now please stop strangling my partner as there is no way in heck I'm doing double the workload just because he had to die on me." The other Andorian rested a hand on Shran's shoulder and Shran looked at him with an almost mad glint in his eye. The other Andorian gave him a firm, reassuring look. Shran relaxed his shoulders and, like a machine, released Daniels from his grip.

Daniels fell to his knees, wheezing, his face returning to its normal colour slowly. The new Andorian grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet. Looking mock-serious he gave Daniels cheeks a few light slaps, saying

"C'mon, c'mon, go back to pink already."

Daniels at last caught his breath and he said, massaging his throat, "We need to find Captain Archer."

"What is it with you and Archer?" the Andorian held up his hand before Daniels could say anything, "Wait! Don't tell me. I don't wanna know, nor do I care." The Andorian grinned at Shran, "Shall we?"

"Sure. T'Pol?" Shran glanced at the Vulcan woman who'd been silent throughout. She nodded her head and went to Shran's side. Malcolm hurried after them, muttering to himself about standard procedure. Trip, more out of sheer curiosity than anything else, followed too. Ambassador Soval accompanied them.

They went to the Briefing Room and Archer arrived a few moments after them. He stopped short when he spotted Daniels, who was seated at the head of the table, while his Andorian companion perched on the edge of the table looking around with twinkling eyes.

"Daniels!"

"Hello Captain." said Daniels in a soft tone. The Andorian straightened up at once and looked around to see Archer.

"Whoa!" he chuckled, "Talk about resemblance."

"I beg your pardon?" asked Archer, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Ignore him. We need to talk." said Daniels, throwing the Andorian an annoyed look. The Andorian maintained a cheeky grin.

"I hope it's about what's happened the last two days."

"It is. Please, everyone sit down so we can discuss this."

"What's there to discuss? Our planets are gone and you've got something to do with it." said Shran with a furious look on his face.

"That is a good summarisation, except that if we didn't monitor the timeline we wouldn't have anything to do with it." said the other Andorian.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" asked Archer, bewildered.

The Andorian grinned and held out his hand, "Henry Theres. I'm Daniels partner at the Time Agency, much to my misfortune. No need to ask who any of you are of course."

"Henry, heel." said Daniels in an aggravated voice as Henry pumped Archer's arm so hard he was in danger of loosing it.

"Shut it pink-skin. You're one to talk." snapped Henry, rolling his eyes at Archer. "You should have heard him when he made his first check in while he was stationed on this ship. 'I've met Archer! And he's sooooo cool!'"

"I was not like that!" Daniels jumped to his feet, his cheeks flushing red.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Shran, jumping to his feet. "I don't give a zabathu's turd what you said when you first met Pink-skin. In case you've forgotten, billions of people have been murdered and you're supposed to be fixing this!"

There was silence as everyone looked at the Andorian and then took their seats. Henry cleared his throat,

"Sorry Captain Shran. We tried to fix the problem from the Time Agency in our century-"

"The 31st century." clarified Malcolm.

"That's correct." said Daniels.

"The 31st century?" repeated Ambassador Soval, sounding dubious.

"I know the Vulcan Science Directory states that Time Travel isn't possible, but believe me, it is. Whether it's a good idea or not is still a matter of fierce debate." Henry cleared his throat again, "Anyway, we tried to fix it back at the Agency, but… well we couldn't fix it. If we had none of this would have happened from your perspectives."

"Why are you here then?" asked T'Pol.

"We need to find out what destroyed the planets if we've any hope of restoring the timeline." Daniels explained

"So if you wouldn't mind laying in a course to the nearest location?" Henry shrugged.

"I think Andoria would be better. It's… fresher."

Everyone grimaced at Daniels words.

"All right, we'll lay in a course to Andoria's… location." said Archer, getting to his feet and walking over to the comm. Just as he reached it, the comm. went off.

"Bridge to the Captains."

"Go ahead."

"Sir… We just received word that Tellar Prime exploded twenty minutes ago. It's just like the other two."

Trip's whole body went cold. Shran's antennas wilted. Henry and Daniels looked at each other wide-eyed. Henry shook his head at Daniels, a pleading look on his face. Trip interpreted this to mean, _'Please tell me what I think is happening isn't happening.'_ Daniels shook his head in turn, clearly saying, _'I can't.'_

"I… Understood. Lay in a course to…" Archer looked to Daniels and Henry. Henry spoke up,

"Tellar Prime."

"Tellar Prime… its location anyway. Best speed."

"Aye sir."

Archer cut the comm. and returned to his seat, looking ill. After a moment of silence Malcolm said,

"I wonder which planet's going to be next."

"Earth." said Henry at once.

Everyone looked at him. Henry looked anxious. "Jack, this looks like it must be the work of the Cabal."

"It can't be. They disbanded at the end of the Temporal Cold War."

"Well who else and why else would those planets be targeted?" demanded Henry.

"What are you two talking about?" demanded Shran.

"We're talking about… about the fact that out of four very important planets, three have been destroyed. Earth is the last one."

"What's so important about these four planets that they would be the target of genocide?" asked Soval.

Henry sighed and rubbed his brow. "Agerton will probably hang us for this, but we might as well complete the screwing up of this timeline. Ok, in a few years time a Coalition of Planets will be formed and all of you will have been heavily involved in it. It will unite many, many planets, and will eventually lead to the United Federation of Planets. This Federation will last up to and beyond our time. Andoria, Vulcan, Tellar Prime and Earth were –are –will be!- the most vocal of the planets in encouraging the formation of the original Coalition. Without these planets to unite into a federation there will be no United Federation of Planets, simple as that."

"Which means that the Dominion will probably take over with no issue in the 24th century. Or the Sphere Builders will succeed in their war. Either way, it's bad news for everyone." added Daniels

"Plus this is established history. It's a bad idea to mess with established history."

"Will you be able to fix this?" asked T'Pol.

"We hope so. I promise you we will try."

"There is something unusual about this whole thing, something we can't figure out."

"What's that?"

"Why hasn't the future been affected by what's happened now? When we left the 31st century, things were exactly as they always were, with our Vulcan and Andoria and Tellar Prime still circling round their suns. That's a paradox, and it's impossible."

"And yet it's happening." sighed Daniels massaging his temples. "And trying to figure it out will only give you a headache."

"So what can we do?"

"Nothing yet. Might even be that there'll be nothing for you to do except let us do our job. Sorry." Henry gave them an apologetic look.

"We should evacuate Earth." said Shran out of nowhere.

"What?"

"We should try to save as many people as we can. If Earth is going to blow up, we might be able to save a few thousand people if we pull out enough ships."

"He's right, I'll alert Starfleet now."

"But if we can fix this there'll be no point, none of this will have happened." said Daniels

"And if you can't? Will you be able to erase our guilt that we did nothing?" hissed Shran. Trip was glad the Andorian was actually talking, even if it was the metaphorical version of spitting poison. It was when Shran was silent for long periods that you really had to watch out for yourself.

"I apologise for my partner. He's not had coffee today." said Henry, glaring daggers at Daniels.

"Well, there's coffee available in the mess." said Archer in a gruff tone. Henry nodded, giving Archer a meek look. "The last time we met Daniels, I told you I didn't want to see you ever again. I told you to leave us out of your Temporal crap."

"I know, and believe me, I did. The thing is, I'm still assigned to the 22nd century. So anything that went amok in that time period was my responsibility."

"Each Temporal Agent specialises in a particular century. We don't jump from one to the other randomly. It's a little like how people think archaeologists just wander around and find bones sticking out of the ground. In reality it's very, very detailed and painstaking work. That's what it's like looking after a century. And we have to work with the others too. It's very complicated."

"Where is this Time Agency of yours? Is it near Starfleet?" asked Trip.

"It's in Cardiff."

"Where's that? Somewhere in the US?"

Henry shook his head, amused, "You Yanks. Even in the 22nd century you think you're the centre of the world. I'll tell you this is why the Time Agency is located in Cardiff. Which, by the way, is located in Wales. The Time Agency's located real near the Roald Dahl Plass. Good old Dahl. He really got inside a kid's head and created a world for them."

"Pardon me for preferring Engineering to Geography." sneered Trip, feeling embarrassed.

"How long until we reach Tellar Prime?"

"9 hours."

"Until then Jack, we can do what we can for now. Continue with our analysis of the eruptions, see if we can get any more data."

"If you need help just ask." said T'Pol, getting to her feet.

"Thanks. We will." Henry offered them all a small smile before grabbing Daniels and dragging him out of his seat. "Can we use your Science Room?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Thanks, c'mon Jack!"

"Will you stop dragging me!" yelped Daniels as Henry pulled him along by the arm. "I'm gonna loose my arm."

"For some reason I hope that comes true." muttered Shran, looking down at Little Soval, who was sitting in his lap. Soval looked around and then stuck his thumb in his mouth and dropped off to sleep.

* * *

Any theories so far?

Night's Darkness


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay, but I've been working on this plot and dealing with a sudden rush of Ianto-whumping fics. Also school, sleeping and eating have gotten in the way a bit. Sorry about that.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

"Captain Archer's starlog August 1st 2156. We've reached the location of Tellar Prime. All that's left of it is debris. It looks like a normal asteroid field, not the location of the homeworld of a unique and impressive race. It's making my stomach turn to look at it. The Radiation is heavy, so we're cooling our heels on the edge. Henry and Daniels have been working for the past twelve hours trying to determine what caused the planets to explode by analysing the radiation's signature. Starfleet has agreed to try to evacuate as many people as possible from Earth, but if indications are right, it'll be in less than 24 hours. There isn't enough time, or ships, to evacuate more than a few thousand people in time, if even that. I'm not sure knowing that Earth will probably blow up is of any real use. A few thousand people saved out of 7 billion? I know each life is priceless but… those numbers are hard to ignore."

* * *

"Henry?"

"Hmm?" Henry looked up at Daniels, and was concerned by the horrified expression on his face. "What's wrong Jack?"

"I think I've found part of the weapon's subatomic signature… but I'm praying to every deity that I'm wrong."

"Why?"

"Just look at it." Daniels handed over his PADD. Henry took the PADD and read the results of Daniels tests. He sat up, eyes wide as he took in what he was reading.

"Oh no… oh you gotta be kidding me!"

"I really wish I was. But apparently, I'm not."

"But… this means we have to…"

"Find him and bring him here?"

Henry groaned and slid off his chair, disappearing under the table he'd been propping his feet on a moment ago. Daniels rolled his eyes,

"I thought you liked him. God knows you flirt with him enough."

Henry popped his head over the edge of the table, giving a scowl like a five year old. "Of course I like him. In fact I love him. He's fun."

"But?"

"But this means things are gonna get even more complicated. That's why I'm hiding."

"You do hate the complications." conceded Daniels, shrugging. Henry pulled himself to his feet.

"I loathe complications!" he cried in his most dramatic voice.

"Well I'm afraid we'll need this complication to fix this problem."

Henry let out a whinge then dropped into his chair, tilting it back on two legs and waving his hand at Daniels. "Ok, off you go. Go find him."

"Why me?"

"Because I think if I went, I'd come back to find you dead in the Science Room with a phaser and would have to have the entire senior staff come to the Parlour Room so I could play Sherlock and figure out who dunnit before getting around to the real reason we're here."

"Galactic Cluedo. Remember playing that when we were kids?"

"I remember always beating you." Henry smirked. Daniels opened his mouth to retort, when the door hissed open and Shran came in. Every hour someone from the senior staff had come to check on them. Shran had Little Soval clinging to his back, the baby's head resting on his father's shoulder.

"What's the status?"

"We've determined part of the signal."

"And can you tell me who is responsible for this?"

"Not yet. However this is progress."

Daniels got to his feet, "I'm about to go get someone who should be able to help. I'll be back soon."

Shran's jaw tightened. "Be quick."

"Yes sir." said Daniels, his voice squeaking just a little. He pulled out his transport device and keyed in a few coordinates.

"Remember his name ain't what it used to be!" called Henry as in a flash of light Daniels vanished. Shran growled and turned away.

"Might not even need to call everyone into the Parlour Room." muttered Henry to himself as he stared at Shran's back.

"What?" Shran turned around and fixed him with a glare. Henry gulped, sitting up. It was like being back in his old fighting class. His teacher had been able to pin even the toughest student to her chair –once even managing to make her cry. Shran's glare was more alarming.

"Nothing, private joke." he said quick as he could. Shran nodded and rubbed his brow, as if warding away a headache. "Are you all right?"

"I've a big headache due to the gaping hole in my consciousness where my whole family used to be, but other than that I'm just fine." sneered Shran. Henry grimaced,

"Sorry, stupid question. How are you holding up with that?"

"Fine. As well as can be expected considering." Shran paced across the room, back and forth, his antennas drawn protectively towards his head. "Do you really think you can bring them back?"

"Yeah. I think we've got a good chance if we can figure out who's behind all this."

"I hope you can." Shran folded his arms, "I want my family back." There was a firmness in his voice that said not getting them back was not an option.

"I understand." Henry nodded, then smiled, "Can I say something?"

Shran narrowed his eyes in suspicion, then nodded.

Henry's smile turned into a grin. "It's so cool to meet you. You're a legend among us Andorians."

"Am I? Fascinating." Shran's tone was uninterested. Henry jumped to his feet,

"Oh yeah you are, I mean, the first Andorian to meet a human, starting the good old trend of labelling your favourite human 'pink-skin'. 800 years into the future and we still do that. And then there's things you've done for Andoria… you're the person children do projects on in school."

Shran looked away, looking disinterested. Henry chuckled, "You don't like hearing this stuff, do you?"

Shran looked at him, a stern, almost angry, expression on his face. "I don't consider myself anything special. I've committed many atrocities when I was in the Imperial Black Ops. Doing some good doesn't change what I've done. I just want what's best for my people. I don't want to be regarded with awe."

"Really?" Henry pulled a face. "No offence, but you always struck me as a guy who liked getting recognition and attention… -not in a bad way, you just liked being acknowledged and, and stuff." Henry had rushed to explain himself and then, realising how weak it sounded, had wisely snapped his mouth shut.

Shran grunted and walked out of the Science Room. Henry clapped his hand over his eyes and dragged it down over his face. Then he looked around the now empty Science Room and pulled a crying face. In a sotto voice he exclaimed,

"I feel so alone!"

* * *

Daniels grunted as he landed on his back, after teleporting to several feet in the air.

"Oh that's rough." he muttered, sitting up with a grunt, rubbing the back of his head. He stood up and staggered a little as he looked around, then down at his scanner. "Well, at least it looks like I'm in the right place. Hopefully he'll be here."

He was at the Roald Dahl Plass, but not his Roald Dahl Plass. For one thing the Time Agency wasn't looming in the sky a little way off. For another none of the people around him were wearing uniforms of Starfleet or the Agency or any sort of clothing from his time. And as one particularly bizarre human with piercings all over his face and dressed in leather, passed him by, Daniels decided things really weren't _that_ different.

Looking around a bit more, he was wondering where in the world he should go to find the person he was after, when he spotted the very object of his search standing near another man and a woman. The three of them were staring at him. Obviously they had seen through the temporal perception filter that prevented people from seeing him at all. Which could only mean that all three of them were temporal agents. Brilliant!

"Jack?" asked the one Daniels had been searching for. He looked astonished.

"Hello Jack." said Daniels, jogging over to them and jumping up onto the higher ground they were standing on. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, it has." Jack grinned and held his hand out. Daniels shook his hand. "What do I owe this pleasure and _where_ is Henry?"

Daniels let go of Jack's hand sharpish at the amorous tone he was using and rolled his eyes. "Henry stayed behind, but I'm sure you'll be seeing him soon."

"Good to know." Jack winked at Daniels.

"Flirt with me later Jack. I need your help."

"What is it?"

There was a soft cough near them and they both turned to see the other two giving them questioning glances. Jack looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, this is an associate of mine, Agent Daniels. Daniels, this is my friend the Doctor and his companion Martha Jones."

"Hi." smiled the pretty woman. Daniels nodded to her, giving her a small smile of his own.

"Hello." nodded the man. "Agent? You work for the Time Agency Jack used to work for?"

"I work for a Time Agency, yes. But not the same one as Jack. Mine's in another dimension. I had to come to this one to find Jack."

"You're from another dimension, that's impossible." said the Doctor, straightening up.

"It is complicated but it is possible Doctor." said Daniels before turning to Jack. "Jack, I need your help, three planets have exploded in my universe."

Jack's eyes widened, then he looked confused. "What can I do? Why'd you come here?"

"Well if we can figure out who's behind this then we should be able to fix it, bring back those planets and their peoples."

"You still haven't answered my question." said Jack, folding his arms across his chest.

"Take a look at the subatomic residual signature left behind by the weapon that did it." Daniels held out a PADD. Jack took it and looked at the signature. He raised one eyebrow and handed back the PADD.

"Oh." was all he said.

"Oh? Jack! You do realise what this is?"

"Yeah. That signature is indicative of this universe, not yours."

"Exactly! I need your help in identifying it."

"How'd you even find me? Last time we met I was a temporal agent in the 51st century. How did you know where and when I was?"

"Henry." Daniels said shrugging. Jack didn't ask for an elaboration. "And what the hell do you mean 'was a temporal agent'? Aren't you one anymore?"

"Not for the past few hundred years. Something happened and the Agency removed two years worth of my memories and just left me."

"Where've you been?" asked the Doctor, like this was old news.

"Parallel universe." shrugged Daniels.

"Oh right, sorry." The Doctor looked away, a frown on his face as his eyes scanned the area.

"Aren't you Temporal Agents too?" asked Daniels, gesturing to the Doctor and Martha.

"Martha's from this time period and the Doctor is an alien who can travel through time." said Jack, looking exasperated at Daniels confusion.

"Is that why they can see through my perception filter?"

"Hold on! That's a TARDIS thing! You been sharing technology Jack?" asked the Doctor.

"No! His filter works differently. It masks him completely to all but those who have travelled in time." Jack ruffled his hair, "Look, come down to Torchwood and I'll have Tosh take a look at the signature, help you identify the people behind this."

"Jack there's something else. These three planets are part of the four that are responsible for the formation of the Federation. They've been destroyed in the 22nd century. The thing is… they're still there in the 31st century."

"What?" the Doctor, who'd been leaning on railings that separated him and Martha from Jack and Daniels up until then. Now he clambered over them and really gave Daniels his attention. "That's impossible."

"I know it is. Believe me. But that's the way it is. When I left anyway. No knowing what's happened since."

Doctor looked at Daniels and then at Jack, confusion evident on his face. Then he glanced back at Martha. Then he shrugged, "Good luck with that. See you, and Jack, remember what I said."

Jack seemed as startled as Daniels was. "Right… I will."

The Doctor gave them a cheerful smile and clambered back over the railings and tugged Martha away. As they walked away, Jack watched them with a wistful expression. Daniels pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn't even going to ask.

"C'mon. Lets see what we can do about your planets." said Jack, sounding disappointed as he put his hand on Daniels' back and steered him along. Daniels allowed this, feeling like he'd stepped in some sort of invisible, emotional tar.

* * *

"Why'd you just walk off like that?" demanded Martha as the Doctor led her along by the elbow. "You were curious about what that man was saying, and you wanted to find out more."

"Which is why I had to walk away."

"But why?"

"Because that is to do with Torchwood."

"And you don't trust Torchwood?"

"No. I don't."

"But you trust Jack! And if he says it's different then it is!"

"I dunno about that." The Doctor stopped and turned Martha to look at him. "There are some things about him that make me wonder if Torchwood hasn't affected him."

"Doctor, a man came to Jack asking for help to bring back three planets and their populations. Are you honestly telling me you can just walk away from that, when you could do a world of help?"

The Doctor sighed. If he was honest with himself, he wasn't feeling up to doing anything but being alone, and reflecting on the death of the Master. The only other of his kind, gone. Shot by his wife of all people. The Doctor could admit that he couldn't blame Lucy for what she did. After all, he'd spent the whole year that never was watching her come and go with the Master, limping or wincing or trying to hide bruises under makeup. By the end of the year, with what she'd seen at 'Utopia', it wasn't surprising she'd snapped.

But he thought about what Daniels had said, how desperate he'd seemed, although he'd tried to hide it under a mask of professionalism. Martha was right. He couldn't ignore that. And besides he was very curious to see just how this man had come through dimensions. It should have been impossible.

The Doctor sighed and walked on, away from the Hub.

"Doctor!" snapped Martha chasing after him.

"What? I'm going to get the TARDIS. Odds are we'll need it."

Martha smiled. Then it faltered a little,

"I can't go with you. My family needs me right now. They saw it all, what the Master did, and they're devastated. I need to go to them. Sorry."

The Doctor smiled sadly, a knowing look in his eyes. He'd guessed that would happen. He'd seen the look in Martha's eyes, which he'd seen in previous companions when it was time for them to leave.

"Walk me back to the TARDIS?"

Martha smiled and nodded, linking her arm with his. "C'mon Mr. Smith, lets get you back to your sports car."

The Doctor laughed.

* * *

Daniels sighed as he watched the Asian woman, Toshiko Sato, plug in his PADD to the computer inside the Hub. Soon she had it analysing the signature and while it was doing that she turned to Jack and, just like the rest of his little team, gave him a look that asked 'Where the hell have you been?!' without a single word being uttered.

When they'd arrived in the Hub, as Jack had called it, they were practically jumped by a brunette woman with a strong welsh accent called Gwen, who hugged Jack and then demanded to know where he'd been. This was soon followed by three other people, also demanding the same question.

As Daniels had learned, Jack was the leader of this group, which worked under the name Torchwood and from the very brief description Jack had given, sounded concerningly like Starfleet's Section 31. If it hadn't been for the fact that Daniels needed Jack's help, he probably would have left after the Pterodactyl had screeched overhead.

"Look, I promise I'll explain everything once my friend leaves."

"Jack! What if I need your help? If this is something you've fought, then I might need you to come with me."

"Daniels, look! I can't leave again." snapped Jack.

"You might have to."

"Why?"

"Because I might need you!" blurted Daniels, feeling his cheeks heat up as the words slipped out.

Jack gave him a look of amusement. Daniels felt like screaming in frustration, "Will you stop thinking with what's in your pants for a minute Jack. I might need you help us fight whatever is blowing up the planets."

"I miss Henry. He's much more polite... and fun."

Daniels clenched his fists tight and glared at Jack. How could this guy be so charming and so INFURIATING at once? Then Daniels noticed that the man who was handing out mugs of coffee, Ianto was his name, narrowed his eyes in what could have been jealousy at the way Jack spoke of Henry. What soap opera had Daniels walked into?

"Well, if you come with me, you can see him. Jack... please."

Jack sighed and relented by uncrossing his arms, and relaxing his shoulders. "Lets see what we have first and then I'll consider it."

"You're just gonna leave again?" demanded the shorter man, Owen, glaring at Jack.

"I don't know. Maybe. But only if I have to."

"Did you have to run off the last time too?" sneered Owen. Jack looked at him, and Daniels sensed a strong feeling of resentment from the doctor, like a son asking his dad why he left.

"... It gave me something I've been looking for for a long time."

"And what was that?"

"Answers."

"What answers?"

"Like how I'm immortal."

"WHAT!!" Daniels gaped at Jack, "Immortal? What? When? How? WHAT?"

"I've been immortal for the past... oh... lets see, went to 1869, it's now 2008 so-"

"139 years." said Ianto without pausing in his coffee distribution.

"Yeah, there you go, more or less."

Daniels stared at Jack, feeling more out of place than ever.

"How exactly are you immortal?" asked Gwen.

"Time vortex." said Jack, shrugging.

"That's decidedly unhelpful Jack!" said Daniels, "Since when are you so cryptic? Back in the 51st century you would tell all, all the time."

"Yeah, well, that was a long time ago." Jack shrugged.

"51st century?" asked Toshiko.

"That's where he's from. Why are you here anyway Jack?"

"Ok, look, that's a long story and-"

"Captain!" Ianto yelped as there was a strange noise and right next to him a tall blue Police box appeared. There was a brief, stunned -or in Jack's case, amused- silence, then the doors opened and a man came striding out so fast he barrelled right into Ianto, who'd been too surprised to move, and knocked poor Ianto to the ground.

"Sorry. Didn't see you there." said the man, the Doctor Daniels realised, as he helped Ianto to his feet. "You all right?"

"Yes... I'm fine. Sir?" Ianto looked to Jack for help.

"Doctor, hands off my coffee boy." said Jack with a wide grin.

The Doctor grinned, one hand still on Ianto's shoulder. "Oh so this is him eh? I see what you mean. He does look good in a suit."

_'I wonder how far down that blush goes.'_ mused Daniels as Ianto went pink.

"Nice to meet you Ianto. Now... what have we got?" The Doctor walked over to Jack, setting a pair of thick rimmed glasses on his nose and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Tosh is still running the analysis." said Jack, "We'll find out in a little while. The archives are extensive."

"Oh... alright then. Can I take a look around?"

"Sure, Ianto, show the Doctor around will you?"

"Yes sir." Ianto nodded and the Doctor followed him as Ianto showed him around.

"Harkness, you'd better answer my bloody questions!" snapped Owen.

"What were they again?"

"Who the hell is that? What the hell is going on? Where the hell have you been? And who the hell is the guy with the Police Box?" shouted Owen.

"Agent Daniels. His planets are blowing up in his dimension and we're involved somehow. I've been to the year 100 trillion recently. And the guy with the Police Box is the Doctor, an alien time traveller who I've known a good while." rattled off Jack.

"Oh, how normal." sneered Owen.

"Jack!!" shouted the Doctor, striding out of Jack's office and leaning over the railings, looking down at him, "Are you growing your own TARDIS in your office?!"

"Trying to anyway." shrugged Jack.

"You can't do that." spluttered the Doctor.

"Why not?"

"Because you just can't!"

"It'll take a while yet, don't get over excited. Another few hundred years at least."

"That's not the point." The Doctor came down the steps, looking exasperated. "Where'd you get that anyway?"

"I think we all have questions and we should maybe address them now... like what the hell have I missed since I last saw you?" said Daniels.

"We last met when we were in Time Academy in our respective dimensions."

"Exactly! How have you done so much in that short a time?"

Jack gave Daniels an aggravated look, and opened his mouth to respond when Toshiko piped up,

"Got something."

"What is it?"

"One of the energy signals in the radiation matches this one." Toshiko brought up the corresponding signal.

There was silence as the Doctor and Jack stared at it, both paling.

"That's impossible." muttered the Doctor, peering through his glasses, his expression one of horrified bewilderment.

"Doctor is this what I think it is?" asked Jack, looking anxious. Daniels couldn't remember ever seeing that expression on his face when he'd known him before.

"The signal is Dalek." growled the Doctor.

"But it's only one of two signals." said Toshiko. "The radiation had two distinct signals."

"Did you match them both?"

"Yeah, but the signal's match comes from the database of this other organisation. Torchwood isn't connected to it."

"What organisation is that? UNIT?"

"No, I've never even heard of it. The SGC."

"The SGC?!" Daniels had a funny feeling he was about to find he was in more trouble than he'd originally thought.

"You've heard of it?" asked Jack, looking surprised.

"Only what I read in Captain Shran's report."

"Who?"

"A very important Andorian from the 22nd century."

"That's that General Henry would going on about, right?" said Jack, rubbing his jaw with one finger.

"That's him."

"He's met this SGC?"

"Met and got tortured during it."

"So... bad guys."

"No, tortured by their bad guy. Long story, he'll tell you it himself... I think. He might not. Unpredictable man."

"Fun. Blue and unpredictable. My kind of man."

Ianto's eyes narrowed again. Daniels felt a little sorry for him.

"So... since it's clear we're not gonna get a straight answer out of you three about what's going on, what's the SGC?" growled Owen.

"It's a top secret government organisation in America, which owns a device called the Stargate that allows travel to other planets in the blink of an eye."

"What?!" blurted the Doctor. "That's impossible."

"That seems to be the word of the day." said Daniels with a little smirk, "But I'm telling you that is also possible. It's what year?"

"2008."

"Then this thing's been running for about 14 or 15 years now."

"And we've never known?" asked Toshiko

"I dunno why you didn't." Daniels shrugged.

"I knew about it but I figured it wasn't worth a mention." said Jack.

"How've I never known about this?" spluttered the Doctor, looking highly put out.

"I thought you did. I'm almost sure I saw a picture of the Stargate in the TARDIS' database." said Jack, frowing.

"I've never heard of a Stargate before –what an unimaginative name."

"I think it's called something different on other planets."

"The second signature matching the weapon's is matching the definition of something called the Goa'uld."

"Oh! Goa'uld! Now them I know of. Nasty lot." said the Doctor, grimacing and rubbing the back of his neck. "Lucky for me that they can't survive inside a Time Lord's body. Something to do with a protein in my blood that kills them off before they can take control of my mind. Mind you, not entirely sure what happened to it once it died in there. And they've got a really rotten fashion sense."

Daniels stared at the Doctor who'd gone of on a tangent before blinking and saying, "Anyway, what do we do now?"

"We need to get a hold of these SGC people. Chances are they'll know something."

"We'll take the TARDIS." said Jack.

"Oh you will, will you?" asked the Doctor, raising his eyebrows at Jack.

"Well, it's quickest."

"Well, wherever you're going, you're not going without us." said Gwen, standing right in front of Jack, glaring up at him.

Now it was Jack's turn to raise his eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. You left us behind before. You ain't doing it again Harkness." growled Owen.

"We have no idea what we're getting into. This could be dangerous."

"More dangerous than a life-sucking demon?" asked Tosh, raising her eyebrows.

"Ok… not necessarily more dangerous than that."

"Life sucking demon?" asked the Doctor, raising an eyebrow at Jack.

"Don't ask." Jack shook his head, before focusing on his team again. "Look, Daniels, the Doctor and I might have to go to another dimension for all we know."

"We don't care. We're going with you."

"No, you're not. I'm ordering you to stay here."

"Then I quit."

Jack whipped around to see Ianto standing in the doorway of the TARDIS, his jaw set and his eyes boring into Jack's.

"What?"

"I said I quit sir. Now you can't order me to stay."

"I quit too." said Gwen, pushing past Jack to join Ianto.

"No, no, no, no! You, Gwen, are going to go home and spend some quality time with Rhys. Owen, you are gonna keep an eye on things here, Tosh, you can chose to help or have some downtime and Ianto…"

Ianto gave Jack a very stubborn look. Jack knew better than to fight with him. "Ianto you're with me."

Ianto nodded and walked into the TARDIS without a word. The Doctor seemed to be waiting for something, but Ianto didn't come back out.

"Where's the bewilderment of the fact that it's bigger on the inside?" asked the Doctor, sound very surprised and a little put out.

"Well that's a given." called Ianto from the TARDIS. Jack hid a grin.

"Ok, let's get to the SGC and see what we can find out."

"Wait? You're just gonna pop into the middle of a top secret Air-force base?"

"Um… pretty much, yeah." The Doctor shrugged at Daniels, whose eyes were popping out of his head. "Coming?" The Doctor and Jack strolled into the TARDIS, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Daniels rubbed his brow and followed them. As soon as he stepped inside, the only thing he could think was _'But it's bigger on the inside!'_

* * *

SGC is coming up next. Hope this isn't going too quick for people. I know how annoying it can be if it feels like you're jumping all over the place.

Night's Darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

So sorry about the LONG wait, but this story decided to stick itself in a rut and stay there. Plotholes suddenly appeared left, right and centre and I fell down a few while trying to save the fic… anyhoo… hopefully the plot will start to resolve itself soon and we can continue on… that is, if anyone's still reading this.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Colonel Jack O'Neill was bored. And when Colonel Jack O'Neill is bored, heaven help the sanity of whoever he meets.

"Colonel?"

"Hey Jonas." O'Neill smiled up at the Kelnowan who looked confused.

"Sir… why are you drawing on the wall of the corridor?"

"I always figured this place could use some more colour." O'Neill shrugged. Jonas blinked at him, then seemed to clutch his notebooks a little tighter to his chest, as if to defend himself from O'Neill's oddities. "Whatcha doing?"

"I'm going to help Daniel with translating the writings on the items brought back from P4X-7873. There's a lot of them, so it'll take a while."

"Ah. Well… have fun with that. Not like there's anything we can do while Doc. Frasier's on the warpath with us."

"Well, we were exposed to unknown airborne substances that made us blackout and wake up naked three miles from our previous position." Jonas shrugged, his green eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Yes… well… let's not reminisce."

"What's there to reminisce, sir? We've no recollection what happened."

"Let's maintain that."

"Yes sir." Jonas gave O'Neill a flash of his pearly teeth and walked off. O'Neill watched him go and then sighed to himself, wondering what he could do now to alleviate his boredom.

Then the alarms started blaring.

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! All marines to the Control Room!"

"Oy! What now?" Jack got to his feet and jogged along to the Control Room. Major Carter joined him as he hurried down the final corridor. "Carter." he greeted

"Sir." She flashed him a quick look of greeting as they jogged up the stairs into the Control Room, only to stop short in shock. Teal'c, Daniel and Jonas came up behind them a few moments later and blinked in shock. They'd seen plenty in their time, including a blue skinned man who'd managed to deceive them all, but this was decidedly bizarre. A British Police Box was standing in the middle of the Control Room, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

About fifty marines had their guns trained on it, ready to shoot whatever came out of it.

The door opened and everyone tensed up, ready for whatever it was. Or as it turned out, they weren't.

"Hello! –Oh, lots of guns!" exclaimed the man who strode out of the Police box. He was dressed in a blue pinstripe suit with a long brown overcoat and was quite tall. Then he glanced to the left and his eyes widened, "The Chappa'ai! Oh it's been years since I've seen one of those!" and he darted over to the window and pressed his hands against it, squishing his nose as he pressed his face to it too. "But where's the Glyph-Dial Device?"

"Um, Doctor, maybe you should wait to ask questions. Some of us are killable." called another tall man, dressed in a World-War II greatcoat. Unlike his companion who had a British accent, this man had an American accent.

"Yourself notwithstanding, eh Jack?" grinned the British man. The American flashed a grin that put Jonas' smile to shame with his gleaming white teeth.

"Absolutely."

"What the hell is going on down here?" demanded General Hammond as he stomped down the steps from his office.

"Oh hello! You must be in charge here." chirruped the first man, almost skipping over and grabbing Hammond's hand and shaking it with a cheerful grin on his face.

"I'm General George Hammond and may I ask who the hell are you?"

"Oh, sorry, George, I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor. It's what I'm called."

"No one is just called Doctor."

"He is." said the American, sidling over as smooth as can be. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness." He held out his hand. "I'm in charge of Torchwood Three."

Hammond's back stiffened just enough to be perceptible. O'Neill raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

Hammond nodded his head, "Captain. Is it really appropriate to pop into my base unannounced like this?"

"Yeah, sorry about the Police box, but it seems we need your help." Harkness shrugged.

"How did it even get here? What is it?"

"It's the TARDIS." said Harkness.

"I see." said Hammond, nodding as if this explained everything. "But…" he glanced at the Doctor who was grinning in a slightly manic way. "Shouldn't we be… arresting him?"

"No." said Jack and the Doctor in unison, the Doctor adding, "Definitely not!"

"But isn't the Doctor Torchwood's archenemy."

"Oh everything's more complicated than printed words implicate." said Harkness, waving his hand in the air. "Listen General, we need a word with you. It's rather important."

"Sir?" Lou Ferritti asked, his P90 trained on Harkness and the Doctor. O'Neill meanwhile was trying to recall having ever heard the name 'Torchwood'.

"At ease. If Torchwood is involved, we're all right… for now."

"You make it sound like you're expecting trouble."

"I expect trouble on a normal day, never mind the one day when a high ranking member of Torchwood shows up in my Control Room. This way gentlemen." Hammond extended his arm, gesturing up the steps to the Briefing Room.

"Don't suppose I could have a cuppa? Nothing better for these long winded briefings." asked the Doctor as he strolled past Hammond, hands in his pockets. Harkness turned around and called,

"Ianto! Daniels! Coming?"

"Like I'm leaving you to talk to this lot on your own!" called a smaller man, in a bizarre black outfit that could have been a uniform, jogging after Harkness. A fourth, tall, man, dressed in a suit that James Bond would have loved, and looking possibly cooler in it, and was probably about Jonas' age, followed the antsy man, shutting the door to the Police Box behind him.

Hammond followed him, saying,

"SG1, report to the briefing room."

O'Neill shared a look with Carter who looked as lost as he felt as they followed their commanding officer.

"Please sit gentlemen." said Hammond, gesturing to the right side of the table. Three of the men sat down, while the Doctor stood before the window and stared down at the Stargate, a strange expression on his face.

"Doctor?" Harkness looked a little concerned.

"I've seen so many of those things on other planets, but I never even thought that they might… how did it get here?" whispered the Doctor.

"Actually there were two." said Jonas, "This one was found in Antarctica, while the original was found in Egypt."

"But what were they doing here?"

"Well, Ra enslaved humans and-"

"Jonas!"

"Yes Colonel?"

"Sit down."

"Sorry sir." Jonas sat down, looking chastened. O'Neill sat on Hammond's left side,

"General? May I ask what's with the Police Box?"

"Colonel, this is Captain Jack Harkness, he runs Torchwood Three, a secret organisation set in the United Kingdom." Hammond gestured to Harkness, who flashed O'Neill a grin. "It's a little like the United Kingdom's answer to the SGC. They specialise in defending earth from alien threats."

"Always with threats. You know not every alien wants to blow this place up!" exclaimed the Doctor, "Case in point, me! I've spent the better part of… oh I dunno, a century, give or take a few years considering the amount of hopping around I do on the time line. You know… if I do the math, taking into account temporal issues, I could have been keeping you lot out of trouble for a few hundred years. Where's that cuppa by the way?"

"I could murder a coffee." said Harkness, throwing the new-James Bond a funny look. A sly grin flew over the man's face before disappearing into an expressionless mask.

"Captain, perhaps you should explain why you're here." prodded Hammond, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, well, to be frank, we need your help in stopping planets from blowing up in another dimension."

"Including Earth." piped up the man in all black. The other three men shot him a look.

"You didn't mention that Daniels!" exclaimed Harkness.

"What does it matter? Billions of people have died!! And the reason is connected to you and them!" Daniels gestured at SG1. "Why does it HAVE to be Earth to get any sort of reaction out of you lot?"

"It doesn't, it's just… instinctive."

"Well what his excuse? He's not human." Daniels gestured at the Doctor who rolled his eyes as if this fact was tiresome.

"Yes, but I haven't spent goodness knows how long defending Earth for another to blow up through something connected to me. It'd be rather hypocritical of me."

O'Neill could feel a headache coming on.

"Captain Harkness, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill, 2IC, Major Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Jonas Quinn. They are SG1."

"Ah! America's flagship team for defending Earth. Going for that easy-on-the-eyes look General? 'Cause if so, I approve." Harkness gave each member an equal look over with a large dash of flirtatiousness in it.

"Stop it!" warned the Doctor and Daniels in the exact same tone at the exact same time. They then looked at each other in surprise. James Bond's nephew rolled his eyes to the heavens.

"I really am not allowed to say hello to anyone." whined Harkness.

"Sir, to be fair… I've never heard you say 'hello' in all the time I've known you." said the guy in the suit. He had a brogue sort of accent.

"Really Ianto? Never?"

'_Ianto? What kinda name is that?'_ wondered O'Neill.

"Never sir."

"Hmm." Harkness seemed to ponder this, but O'Neill saw his eyes were dead serious and strong. This was a man after his own heart. Hiding behind nonchalantness and jokes, and faux ignorance (mostly faux anyway). "Well, I can't help it if I'm in the presence of very attractive people." and he winked at Jonas who went red.

There was a 'thud' as Daniels dropped his head to the table,

"Jack!" he groaned, his voice a little muffled, "We're in the presence of 21st century military American men! These are the _last_ people you should be flirting with!!"

"Oh yeah… I forgot how touchy you are about that stuff, and not in the fun way." Harkness winked at Bond's nephew.

"I too find human categories of sexuality bewildering." said Teal'c.

"… was that a joke Teal'c?" asked O'Neill weakly, gaping at his team-mate. Teal'c simply quirked an eyebrow. Jonas smiled at the table.

"Anyway! We need your help to figure out what's doing this." said Daniels, lifting his head again.

"Why? What have we got to do with it?"

"Ok, this signal, matches one in your database. It's been identified as Goa'uld."

"Oh great."

"In another dimension?" asked Sam.

"Yes, my dimension. And if these planets are not restored then they will never unite and form a United Federation of Planets and if they don't do that I can kiss my job goodbye!"

"Your job?"

"Daniels is a Time Agent from the 31st century." said Harkness like this was old news.

"A Time Agent? As in… travelling through time?"

"Not exactly. I monitor the 22nd century of my universe and make sure no one interferes with established events. That's strictly forbidden."

"Except for cheap tricks." chuckled the Doctor. Daniels gave him a scandalised look.

"So, what do you need our help for?" asked O'Neill.

"We need to know more about these Goa'uld. How many dealings have you had with them?"

"We have been at war with the Goa'uld for seven years now. We have encountered them on many occasions and have defeated them just as often." There was an unmistakable smug tone to Teal'c's voice.

"So… you're familiar with them then?" Harkness grinned.

Teal'c inclined his head, "Indeed."

"Well, that could come in handy." mused the Doctor, a twinge of sarcasm in his voice.

"Look, do you think you can help us?"

"We'd need to see the data on what destroyed the planets."

"Well the thing is, we don't know what did it, but the signature from it had been identified as both Goa'uld and Dalek."

"Dar-what?"

"Dalek. Tall, metal encasement, tried to take over the world a few times, look a bit like salt and pepper shakers… anybody? No? Blimey, do you lot keep your heads in the sand?" the Doctor looked around the table in bewilderment.

"They look a bit like R2D2 if it helps." said Ianto.

"No… Teal'c would have noticed if something like that came along."

* * *

O'Neill massaged his brow as he watched Daniels, the Doctor, Harkness and Ianto walk out of the briefing room. It had been a long briefing. But the summation of it was that neither Daniels or Harkness or the Doctor knew enough about dealing with the Goa'uld to go up against them when they were powerful enough to blow up freaking planets so SG1 would be accompanying them to _another dimension_, to the_22__nd__ century_.

"General, do we really have to go?"

"Colonel, it seems they really do need our help. Now, to be quite honest I'm not sure what to make of it all, seeing as the President barely knows what Torchwood is about, but I've heard enough about Captain Harkness to know that he's a man who can be trusted."

"The guy claims to be from the 51st century!"

"Actually it was Daniels who pointed that out." said Jonas,

"Still! 51st century!"

"Be that as it may Colonel, you'll have to go with them. Countless lives are at stake."

"Yes sir." O'Neill sighed.

"You'll be departing in one hour, go and get ready."

"Yes sir.

* * *

"But it's bigger on the inside!"

"So you've said, several times now." sighed the Doctor, eyeing O'Neill who looked frustrated. They were standing in the Control Room of the TARDIS and Daniels and the Doctor were trying to figure out how to bring it through the Void between dimensions. Sam and Jonas had said nothing so far, both in a mental competition to figure out how the huge interior fit inside the outer shell of a Police Box. Daniel looked like he was in heaven when the Doctor commented that the ship was full of historical memorabilia. Teal'c was silent but wary, judging by the tension of his hand that held his staff weapon. Ianto was standing near O'Neill and O'Neill, feeling irritated, said,

"And I suppose you're from 91st century Pluto!"

"Sir?" Ianto blinked at him in confusion.

"Well Harkness is from the 51st century, Daniels is from the 31st century in another universe and the Doc's from another planet. So I'm guessing you're from 91st century Pluto."

Ianto blinked at O'Neill. Harkness chuckled to himself.

"Sir, I'm from 2008 Cardiff."

"Where's Cardiff?"

"Does any American know where Cardiff is?" demanded Daniels in exasperation.

"Cardiff's in Wales, Colonel." said Jonas, breaking his silence.

"Oh. So… if you're from 2008, can I ask you something?"

Ianto shifted where he stood, "I don't think I'm supposed to tell you anything about the future, even if it is only four years ahead."

O'Neill widened his eyes, looking dead serious, "Oh I understand but this is very important."

"Well… what's the question?"

"… The Simpsons is still on, right?"

Ianto grinned and relaxed his shoulders a little while Harkness laughed, "Yes sir. In fact they had a movie out last year. It was good. Jack made me go with him."

"Well you can't say you didn't like the fact that I took you out!" said Harkness with a smirk.

"Ugh! Simpsons! Don't get Henry started on Simpsons. He loves them. Although he does prefer Sex and the City. He keeps asking Klaang if he could bring Kristin Davis back with him from the 21st century so he could seduce her. He's rather enamoured with her."

"I prefer South Park to Simpsons." said Ianto, shrugging.

"Prefer? Ianto, you've got the full DVD collection!" said Harkness, smiling his megawatt smile.

"Yes sir, that's why I said I prefer it to Simpsons. I've only got six seasons of that." Ianto smirked at Harkness in a way that made O'Neill a little uncomfortable. Harkness' grin back only amplified this.

"I find Futurama to be appealing for its continuous humour about the future." commented Teal'c.

"Henry loves them too… Henry just loves TV. I swear the man watches way too much. His eyes will go square."

"People still say that in the 22nd- I mean 31st century?" asked O'Neill, grimacing as he got his centuries muddled.

"Yup." said Harkness, chuckling. "And what's wrong with watching TV? Just because it ain't the same as a holodeck-"

"Oh no, he uses that to be part of shows like Queer as Folk and The L word." Daniel pulled a face.

"The L word's about lesbians. How does he manage that?" asked Ianto, looking genuinely bewildered. Jonas' face matched his in an instant.

"I don't ask."

"You 31st humans are such prudes." sighed Harkness, shaking his head.

"Just because you'll have sex with anything that has a pulse –no offence Ianto- doesn't mean the rest of us do!"

"Agent Daniels, if I didn't accept that I'd be insulted for sleeping with Jack, I never would have done it." Ianto said with an air of quiet dignity. O'Neill tried not to look as uncomfortable as he was.

"Hey!" complained Harkness.

The Doctor cut off further protests. "Daniels, just how are we going to get to your dimension?"

"Do you think you could hook my dimension hopper into this ship?" Daniels held out a small device that looked like a smooth white pebble. The Doctor took it and looked at it then at Daniels with a raised eyebrow.

"You call it a dimension hopper?"

Daniels sighed as Harkness sniggered behind his hand, "The inventor let his seven year old name it."

"Ah, fair enough then." The doctor pulled out what looked like a pen and made it make a weird noise and shine a blue light.

"What's that?" asked Carter, stepping closer, distracted from her puzzling.

"Sonic Screwdriver." was the short answer.

"You could have answered me properly." Carter frowned in mild annoyance.

"No really, it's a screwdriver and it's sonic… what else needs to be said?"

"Oh I've got it!" exclaimed Jonas before Carter could respond.

"I hope it's not contagious." muttered O'Neill, "Last thing I need is a geek-virus."

"It's the dimensions! They're separate. The interior dimensions of the ship are separate from the exterior dimensions of the shell of the ship. That's why it's bigger inside, it's dimensionally transcendental."

The Doctor, along with the others, stared at the young Kelnowan in shock.

"I've never met anyone who's been able to figure it out for themselves." murmured the Doctor, looking impressed. Jonas shrugged,

"Well it's the only thing that makes sense really."

Sam looked a little pouty over the fact that Jonas had gotten it first. O'Neill sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was out of his depth amongst all these geeks.

"I need a loo, where is it?" asked Ianto, looking around, embarrassed.

"Erm… doctor?" asked Harkness.

"Oh… oh, just wander around. She'll make sure you find it eventually." said the Doctor, focused on the dimension hopper. Ianto threw Harkness a confused look. Harkness shrugged,

"The TARDIS likes to change things around a lot."

"You make it sound as if this ship were alive." said Teal'c as Ianto walked out of the control room.

"Oh she is. Can't you hear her heartbeat pulsing through you?" asked the Doctor, smiling. Jack was about to ask what he meant when he noticed for the first time that what he'd assumed was the hum of the engines, actually had a rhythm, like a drumbeat, vibrating in his head and his heart.

"Holy sh-"

"Ah!" there was a yell from Ianto, and then a loud splash. A few seconds later and there was a yell of "JACK!"

"He found the bathroom then." muttered the Doctor, distracted (or pretending to be since he was grinning).

"And the pool." muttered Jack, pushing away from the main consol and walking after Ianto.

"You guys have a pool in this place!?"

* * *

Hehe, poor Ianto, couldn't resist.

Reviews are always appreciated!

Night's Darkness


	6. Chapter 6

Grr… This part of the fic is so annoying, trying to establish all the characters and introducing everyone, but it must be done. _(sighs)_

Oh well, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"Well I'm sure she didn't mean to open the door straight into the pool like that."

Ianto glared at Jack who continued to search for a towel,

"And it's not like you can't swim."

More glaring.

"It was probably just her idea of a joke, she's mischievous."

Ianto continued to glare at Jack. Then through gritted teeth

"This was my favourite suit and now it smells like a chlorine soaked dog!"

"I did say this trip could be risky."

"But not to my suits! If I'd known that I'd never have volunteered."

"You'd rather protect your suits than make sure I'm safe?"

"You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself sir." There was more of a bite behind what had been becoming their usual banter. Jack sighed. It wasn't like he hadn't been expecting this. He knew Ianto was angry with him for just leaving like that. But now really didn't seem the best time to have one of _those_ conversations.

"I'll buy you a new suit when we get back. How does Armani sound?"

"… I suppose I could consider it."

Jack smiled at Ianto as he handed him a towel. Ianto took it and nodded as he made his way to the shower that was waiting for him. He went behind the screen and Jack could hear the rustle of wet clothing as he stripped.

"Need a hand?" Jack couldn't resist.

"No thank you sir." called Ianto in a clipped tone. Jack winced. It wasn't the best time to be flirting it seemed.

"I'll just see what I can do about a replacement set of clothing."

"I expect them to be decent sir!" Ianto called after him. Jack nodded feeling meek.

"Honestly TARDIS, why'd you do that?" he asked aloud. He'd never really addressed the ship directly before, but now seemed like a good time. "He's already angry with me and… oh… my…" Jack's jaw dropped as he turned a corner and found himself watching a very naked Ianto washing himself in the shower Jack had honestly just left.

Ianto didn't seem to notice him at first, until he turned around and looked right at Jack.

"JACK!"

For the second time in less than an hour Ianto shouted Jack's name for non-happy reasons.

"It wasn't me! I swear! It's the TARDIS! Not that I'm not loving the view though."

"Get out!"

"Ok, ok!" Jack turned and walked out, feeling irritated at the TARDIS and annoyed because his coat was now wet. He found the giant wardrobe and began to root through it, wondering whether he should just pick out a suit or try to get Ianto to wear something different for once. The man needed a new look, Jack decided and grinned when he spotted a pair of black jeans that would definitely be a snug fit. Then he grabbed a sea-green silk shirt and then located underwear, socks and black Converses. He quickly headed for the shower and left them to the side. Then he returned to the control room, where O'Neill was sitting, looking bored, Sam, Jonas and Daniels were crowded around the Doctor, Daniel seemed to be vibrating from repressed questions, and Teal'c… appeared to be counting air molecules, judging by the intensity of his staring into space. Jack grinned to himself. This could be fun.

"So… how's it going?"

"We're just trying to hook the dimension hopper into the TARDIS to generate the field that'll enable us to transfer from one dimension to another." said Daniels.

"Any luck."

"I think it'll work. I just need to account for the transcendentality of the dimensions and make a few adjustments to the power output." The sonic screwdriver was humming away as it did its job. Major Carter, Jonas and Daniels were watching it with open fascination.

"Where'd you get that?" asked Jonas.

"Oh hereabouts." said the Doctor vaguely. "It's been with me since my 2nd incarnation."

"What's that mean?"

"Oh well –d'you know what! I'm trying to enable us to jump dimensions without being split apart by the atoms, and you're asking personal questions. You humans are so ridiculous sometimes."

"Ah, but you love us anyway." said Jack with a grin.

The Doctor shot Jack an irritated look, but then his lips quirked just a little and he looked away.

"Impossible!" he muttered.

"Jack! Do these jeans need to be so tight?" asked Ianto as he came out, dried and dressed and looking behind himself at his ass. Jack's eyes were drawn there too.

"Oh God yes." he said with a satisfied sigh. Ianto gave him a withering look.

"Ok, I think I've got it. Hold on everyone, this will be a bumpy ride!" called the Doctor before pulling a lever. The entire group was thrown to the floor as the TARDIS jumped and then began to shake so hard it felt like it was going to split apart. Ianto grunted as he landed on top of Jack.

"Hello there." Jack grinned, putting one arm around the Welshman and hooking the other around the base of the chair. Ianto let out a muffled swear. Jack couldn't be sure, but he thought Ianto was blushing.

"What kinda spaceship is this?!" yelled O'Neill, clinging on for dear life to one of the pillars.

The Doctor had to shout over the roar of the engines. "One of a kind Colonel! One of a kind!"

* * *

As an Andorian, Henry was sensitive to physical changes, sensing when the temperature got a degree warmer, or the air pressure lessened a little. It was important to be so in a world that depended on the environment remaining a certain way for survival. That was why Andorians were well known for being incredibly eco-friendly, as well as promiscuous and passionate. They knew how delicate their planet was because they could feel it in their bodies.

Now however what Henry was sensing was a very large time and dimensional disturbance… in the mess hall?

Henry wasn't surprised that Shran sensed it too as the man lifted his head, eyes narrowing. The man was well known for being the first to notice anything. T'Pol also seemed to sense it soon after Shran. Of course, humans, being a rather desensitised species, only noticed it when a strange sound was heard and the alarms were blaring, which was when Archer looked up from his PADD.

Henry followed the three captains to the mess where there stood… a Police Box?!

"What the heck?" Henry muttered wondering whether he was seeing things.

"Where did this come from?" demanded Archer. Henry wasn't surprised that no one answered.

The door swung open and Daniels staggered out, looking faintly sick.

"Oh my head!" he moaned, grabbing hold of a table and leaning against it.

"Did you find him?" asked Henry.

"Oh I'm fine Henry, thanks for your concern." sneered Daniels, clutching his head.

"Yes, yes, hallelujah, you're breathing. Now… did you find him?"

"I assume you're talking about me."

Henry spun around and grinned as he lay eyes on a man he'd not seen since they were teens.

"Jack!!" he all but squealed, launching himself at the man and hugging him tight. Jack laughed and hugged him back,

"Henry, my loveable Andorian!"

"Hands Jack!" Henry laughed pulling away, batting Jack's wandering hands. "You haven't changed!"

"… that's debatable." said Jack, a shadow coming into his eyes. Henry was surprised by it, but at the same time, not. But before he could say another word, a tall man came out, looking dazed.

"Oh I think I'm going to be sick." he moaned, with a welsh accent.

"Oh my spirits!! You brought me a Welshman Jack! I can't believe it!" Henry clapped his hands in delight.

"Excuse me?" The Welshman looked confused.

"I live in Cardiff and I've never met a Welshman before. How sad is that? It's just so hard to find a Welshman or an Irishman… or a Scottish man for that matter in the 31st century. It's so sad, because, judging by old movies, their accents were damn hot!"

"You'll hear no disagreements from me." chuckled Jack.

"And he's a hot Welshman too! Better and better!"

The Welshman looked irritated.

"My name is Ianto Jones."

"I love you Jack! I really do." Henry was in heaven at the sound of that thick accent. He'd longed to hear it for real, but accents were all but extinct in the 31st century, especially from places like Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and since he couldn't exactly go and chat to 22nd century humans like it was normal (Andorians were still way too new), he'd only ever had recordings of it.

"Henry… I swear to god, if you don't stop your childishness, I will deck you!" growled Daniels.

Henry rolled his eyes and Jack gave him a knowing wink. "Like you could Jack… erm… oh my…" Henry looked between his partner and his old friend. "This is a problem."

"What is?" asked Ianto, some colour returning to his cheeks.

"The fact that-"

"Holy crap! I do not believe it!" exclaimed a man with silver hair and wearing BDUs as he came out, one hand pressed to his stomach. "Of all the-"

"Colonel!?" spluttered Shran, eyes huge.

"Shran!"

"Shran?" asked a woman as she came out.

"Major!"

"Shran?" grinned a young man. A slightly older man followed him and he just stared.

"Jonas. Daniel."

"CaptainShran." greeted a dark man, who looked like he spent _way_ too much time in a gym.

"Teal'c."

"Oh, so you know each other?" grinned Jack. Henry threw Daniels a look, demanding answers without voicing his questions.

"Things got… complicated." Daniels had the grace to look sheepish.

"Things got more complicated you mean." said Jack, smirking at Henry, who groaned and clutched at his head in what appeared to be despair. "Still got that complication-phobia Henry?"

"Screw you Jack! I'm entitled to hate whatever I want."

Jack laughed.

"Would someone explain what the HELL is going on here?" growled Archer. Shran seemed to be reeling from seeing people he hadn't seen for a year.

"We're apparently here to help you bring back a bunch of blown up planets." said the man with silver hair.

Archer opened his mouth to ask more questions when another voice floated from the box (how the heck had they all crammed in?)

"Oi! Lemme out would you? I want to see!"

The group of people in BDU's parted to allow a tall man out. Henry took one look at his big hair, wide grin, clever eyes and liked him at once.

"Hello there! I'm the Doctor. Now, where do we start?"

"How about an explanation of that thing."

The Doctor pouted, "Oh I hate starting things from scratch."

* * *

Malcolm was trying to decide which of the people seated around the large table needed most watching and was quickly coming to the conclusion that it would be the man who called himself The Doctor. There was just something about the man that set Malcolm on edge, despite the welcome sound of an accent from his native country.

Second in line would probably be this Harkness man, who was just… too much of everything. Malcolm hadn't been able to believe it as he'd flirted his way through the stiff introductions. He'd even flirted with Ambassador Soval, for goodness sake!

"So… in summation, you all know some of the other people present at this very large table." said Henry, scratching his head.

"Sounds like it." smiled the Doctor.

"Yet no one has pointed out the slight problem we have."

"What problem?" asked Major Carter.

Henry rolled his eyes like it was obvious. "Oh, well… Jack?"

"Yes?" three men chorused, then looked at each other. Henry gestured at them with one hand.

"That's our problem. We have a Jack O'Neill, a Jack Harkness, a Jack Daniels, and a Daniel Jackson, and four people who answer to the title of Captain."

There was a beat of silence as they took this in. O'Neill spoke up first.

"Ok, I gotta ask, _Jack Daniels_?"

Daniels buried his head in his arms. Henry and Captain Harkness grinned, Henry saying,

"His dad has the best sense of humour!"

"I always loved the taste of Jack Daniels." sighed Captain Harkness, smirking at Daniels. Daniels grimaced.

"Tell me you mean the drink."

"Sure… that's what I meant."

Malcolm watched as Ianto Jones rolled his eyes and seemed to be silently begging God for patience.

"Anyway, maybe we should figure out how to address everyone so we can work together as smoothly as possible."

"Well, I would think referring to them by their last names, would solve the issue."

"Yeah, but the only person who calls me by my last name is Owen and he only does it when I piss him off."

"So we call you Jack and the other two Daniels and O'Neill."

"Ok, but what about me?" asked Daniel, lifting his hand, "I am Daniel."

"We'll just call you Jackson."

"But… I'll look up when I hear Jack."

"So wait for the 'son' ending before you open your mouth if you can." smirked the Doctor.

A muscle in Shran's jaw twitched and his antennas were curling to touch the back of his head. O'Neill spoke up before Archer could

"Ok, naming issue done with, whaddya say we go find ourselves some bad guys that look like salt and pepper shakers that're working with some nasty snake heads?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." smiled Henry,

"No argument from me."

"So… how do we do that?"

There was silence.

* * *

It was only after I started writing this fic that I realised the problem with names, I hope it won't be too confusing for anyone. Let me know if it is.

Night's Darkness


	7. Chapter 7

I was browsing through my folders and I realised that I never uploaded this chapter. Don't ask me why! I'm so sorry to anyone who is still reading this that I haven't updated, but life and school and Torchwood, took over. All my plot bunnies have become Torchwood bunnies, and they're being very stubborn. So apologies again.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Ianto watched as the bizarre group started to work and found himself wondering just what he was doing there. He was out of his depth in about a million different ways, and aside from Jack, he had no connection to any of this.

Maybe he'd been a bit impulsive in insisting on going with Jack, but at the time he'd been certain that he'd be up for anything so long as it meant he could make sure Jack came back to Torchwood. Now, as he took in the guys with blue skin, one of whom looked ready to blow, the two elves –Vulcans, he corrected himself, cursing his brief crush on Orlando Bloom- the Time Lord and the humans with varying degrees of normalcy, he decided he should have just stuck to moping around the Hub.

"Ianto, could you do us all a favour and make some coffee?" asked Jack, flashing him a smile.

"There's no need, the replicator can make some." said Captain T'Pol.

"No machine can make better coffee than Ianto. If I had the time to devote to it, I would start a cult following of it, it's that good."

Ianto blushed as Daniel looked hopeful and Henry grinned.

"Cute, Welsh and can make coffee. You are killing me Jack."

"Hey! He's mine, hands off." said Jack. Ianto snorted

"You wish Jack." The words came out harsher than Ianto had meant and Jack looked at him in surprise. Ianto didn't apologise, because, he realised, he was annoyed by that statement. Why Jack had left had been obvious, but still, it didn't stop Ianto from feeling irked about being treated like a toy. He did have some integrity. Some days he was sure that was all he had. "If I'm to make coffee, I'll need to find out where they keep the coffee beans."

"We don't have any." said Commander Tucker. Jack went white. Ianto almost laughed at the utter horror on his face.

"You don't have any?" repeated Jack, sounding twitchy.

"No, the replicator just makes it through molecular resequencing."

"I see." Jack sounded faint. Daniels pinched the bridge of his nose as Daniel looked heartbroken.

"Focus Jack." said the Doctor.

"How'm I supposed to…" Jack trailed off and Ianto saw he was looking at Captains Shran and T'Pol. Shran was glaring at him with such intensity it was a wonder Jack hadn't been buried six feet under where he stood, and T'Pol, whose expression was extremely bland, also managed to convey her irritation without a single change in her expression. To Ianto's shock, Jack quailed and muttered, "Never mind."

"Ok, let's compile all the data we have on these Goa'uld and Daleks and see if we can figure out how they got here in the first place." said Henry, sounding calm and collected. Professional. Ianto felt respect blossoming in his chest for this man. He was obviously deeper than he let on.

"Well, this is our database of everything on the Goa'uld from our dealings with them in the past seven years." said Major Carter, holding out a large enough data module, about the size of an A4 pad.

"And this is about three hundred years worth of information on the Daleks." said the Doctor, holding out a tiny chip about half the size of a small matchbox. Ianto looked between one data module and the other and almost chuckled. Major Cater was eyeing the chip with a hungry look. The Doctor was trying to look like he wasn't aware of the look and enjoying it.

"Ok, we'll download these into our database and then some of us will try to sort through it all so it's manageable and maybe figure out why this is happening. The rest of us will see what evidence and information we can gather. Captain Shran?" Shran looked to Henry, "Could you see what your contacts know? Maybe some of them have heard something."

"That in your history books is it?" asked Shran in what sounded like a rather petulant tone.

"Yes sir it is." said Henry with a little smile. Shran sighed, folding his arms across his chest.

"I'll see what I can do… although I'd much rather see what the remaining Andorian forces are like. Might need them."

"Do that as well then, chances are we might need them. Captain T'Pol, Ambassador Soval, could you do the same for the Vulcan fleet?"

"Of course." Soval inclined his head and turned to leave.

"Soval, wait." said Shran. The Vulcan stopped short. "I just realised… that with the High Command being gone… strictly speaking, doesn't that make you the highest ranking Vulcan and therefore the leader of your people?"

Soval stared at the Andorian for a few moments, and then said, "I suppose it does. I had not considered that."

"When you address the Vulcans… you should probably keep that in mind." Shran's voice was soft and Ianto sensed that there was a connection between these two men that made no sense and yet was very strong. Soval stared straight at him and nodded.

"I shall. Thank you Shran."

Shran nodded and then looked away, a strange expression on his face. Then he walked out, clearly thinking a million things. Ianto felt sorry for him, but something told him he was better off keeping that to himself.

"Ok, who's the best for organising data and the like?"

"Jonas and Daniel on my team." said Colonel O'Neill.

"Ianto's my archivist among other jobs, I'm sure you'll find him helpful." said Jack, giving Ianto a little push.

"Trip, Hoshi, work with them." said Captain Archer.

"Aye Cap'n." said Commander Tucker.

"Meantime, Daniels, the Doctor, Jack and I will try to find what we can by way of evidence of what destroyed the planets. Hopefully we'll be able to find something that 22nd century technology would have missed."

"Just who made you boss?" asked Jack, hands on his hips.

"I just figured that I would. I didn't see anyone else who actually knew enough to order others really trying." Henry didn't flinch away. Jack sighed, folding his arms. "So let's stop pissing around. I want my homeworld back."

Ianto felt saddened as he realised that Henry had lost his home too. Just because it was still there in one time, didn't take away from the pain of it being gone in a point in time. Jack also seemed to realise this as he looked down, embarrassed. Ianto was impressed and a little intrigued. This man with blue skin and antennas had the ability to make Jack uncomfortable. With much sarcasm, Ianto wondered if Henry would teach him a few tricks to do that.

"We'll get to work, shall we?" he asked, directing the question to Daniel and Jonas, who nodded their heads, looking eager to get started.

"Good, you lot start up on that and we'll play Sherlock." said the Doctor, with a grim smile.

"I ain't gonna be Watson." warned Henry as he walked out of the room. "Daniels can be him."

"No thanks." sniped Daniels as they followed him. Ianto turned to the others and Commander Tucker said,

"Let's get started, shall we?"

* * *

"Dear God, do they really look like that?" asked Hoshi, grimacing at the picture of the organic part of the Dalek.

"So it says." sighed Jonas, looking away from the picture. Ianto didn't even look up. Having insisted on working with the Goa'uld database, he was determined to do a good job. Two years since Canary Warf and the mere thought of Daleks still made him shudder.

"It looks like a really bad zit." muttered Trip.

"A zit that plans world domination?"

"Yup."

"Not world domination." muttered Ianto.

"Come again?"

Ianto sighed, wishing he hadn't said anything, "The Daleks are out to destroy everything, not dominate it. There's a slight difference."

"Yeah… just a small one." muttered Trip, shaking his head. "You ever come up against these guys?"

"I… I was caught up in a battle between them and the Cybermen… it… it was awful. So many people dead." Ianto looked down at the table, fighting images of the Cybermen herding people along, of the sound of the Daleks shouts, of Lisa in agony.

"How many got out?"

"27. Out of 823. But a few of them have committed suicide, so really, it's about 18."

"Damn… I'm sorry."

"It was our own fault. We should never have messed with that Ghost Machine."

"Wait, there are ghosts now?"

Ianto sighed, "I'd rather not talk about it, thank you. Jack and the Doctor have come up against them, the Doctor especially. He'll know more about fighting them."

The subject was dropped, and Ianto was grateful for their respectful restraint. He'd enough on his mind without Cybermen and Lisa pushing in too.

"So… what do we think is going on here, based on the information?" asked Daniel, looking around as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Well, there's no record in the Vulcan or Andorian database about either of these guys. So, if there are any, then they might not be many." Hoshi offered.

"According to this thing, there's only one Dalek left in existence. Dalek Cann. Of the Cult of Skarro… ring any bells Ianto?"

Ianto winced a little at the way Trip drawled out the first syllable of his name. Yaaanto. Then he thought about the question.

"Not really, I don't recall it. But then again it's possible I just didn't hear about it during the chaos."

"Ok. Now What about the Goa'uld?"

"Parasitic race, inhabit humans or other aliens and assume control of their bodies. Generally try to portray themselves as Gods or Deities of some kind by frightening people into submission with stolen advanced technology. Have a race of slaves called Jaffa, whose immune system is dependent on an immature symbiot that resides in a pouch of their abdomen. Are arrogant and dangerous." summarised Daniel before taking a breath.

"Can't there be a day where we run into some nice aliens?" wondered Ianto, propping his head up in his hand.

"You've never met nice aliens?" asked Jonas.

"Not in my line of work. Then again… Torchwood wouldn't exactly be alien friendly. The old motto was 'If it's alien, it's ours', including the aliens themselves."

"The SGC has a similar policy, although we try to trade." Jonas shrugged, popping something that a crewman had brought in a little while ago into his mouth.

Trip and Hoshi exchanged a look, before Trip saying, "We explore… and defend the earth… and trade."

"Well… you people can actually go to other planets. I'm stuck in Cardiff waiting to see what shit the Rift will cough up." Ianto wondered if his eyes had gone green before deciding he was beginning to go into caffeine withdrawal.

"What Rift?"

"It's a Rift in time and space. All sorts of things get coughed up into Cardiff, Weevils mainly though."

"Weevils?"

"Alien, we're not sure how intelligent, but even though they tend to be scavengers they do have sharp teeth and some humans have no concept of survival caution. So we have to keep them down in the sewers or in our cells. Hm… I think that by the time we're done here and ready to go back home, I'll be missing Janet."

"Who?"

"Resident Weevil. Jack called her Janet. We caught her while she was burying her child."

Hoshi's expression instantly softened and she murmured 'aww'. Ianto was reminded of Tosh for some peculiar reason and wished she was with him. At least she'd have helped him so he wouldn't feel so alone. Why was he always a fifth wheel? Then he shook his head and told himself to stop sounding so pathetic. His fingers dug into the bridge of his nose. He was out of his depth here.

* * *

Shran's whole form was itching with worry and anticipation as he went through the list of surviving Andorian ships. So far he hadn't come across the one he was hoping for. But it had to be on the list. Shran would have known if it was gone, if he was gone… wouldn't he?

"_Bridge to Captain Shran." _

Shran jumped and he pressed the comm. button. "Yes?"

"_There's a message coming in for you, it's Captain Telev."_

Shran nearly jumped out of his seat in shock, before sagging in relief. _He was alive_. "Put him through."

"_Yes sir."_

Shran switched the monitor of the ready room from the list to an image of a smooth faced Andorian.

"Telev! You're all right." His voice was soft with relief.

"As are you. I'm glad."

"Did you loose many crew?"

Telev's antennas fell. "We lost ten, my first officer and chief engineer included."

"I'm sorry."

Telev nodded. He looked exhausted, with navy circles under his eyes. "How's Soval?"

"He's all right, although the shock was… upsetting to say the least. He's resting with Phlox."

"Good. I was worried it may have been too much for him."

"No, he's all right."

"Are you?"

Shran sighed, "No."

"Me either."

Telev reached out a slender hand and pressed it to the screen, "Spirits I wish I was with you right now."

Shran mirrored his action, "I know, me too."

The lovers stared at each other, each willing the screen to melt away to warm flesh. Telev broke the silence first,

"Have you found out how…"

"Not exactly, although we may have a few leads. Would you believe me if I told you that we have people from the future and from other realities here trying to bring back everyone?"

"Never in a million cycles." Telev smirked a little, his fingers rubbing over the screen.

"Well it's what's happening. We're all working together, future, past, present and alternate dimension all together. It's surreal. Especially since some of these people are the people from the SGC."

"Where you were tortured by that arrogant snake-head?"

"That's the one."

"Wow."

"That sums everything up quite nicely I think." Shran managed to smirk, before his antennas and lips fell, "I need them back."

"So do I. So does every Andorian. We did not sacrifice almost whole generations to war to defend it for it to just be gone like that! No! We'll get them back, if you've got who you say you've got, then how can we fail?"

Shran sighed, "Ah, nelai, you're the optimist to my pessimisms."

"Well, someone has to keep you from going into a depressive cycle."

"Hm, yes, well…"

"Oh you know what I meant Thy'lek!" Telev rolled his eyes, "Anyway, I want to know what we should do with the remaining ships?"

"I think we should round them up, see how many we have, and how many people we have left. I want you to send a message across the blue channel-"

"The _blue channel_?!" Telev's eyes bugged out a little.

"Yes, why? What's the problem?"

"Nothing, just, not everyday I get told to use the secure blue channel."

Shran was quiet for a moment. "Today's not everyday."

"True. What will the message say?"

"The Imperial Guard always had plans for any kind of catastrophe, a benefit of our paranoia you could say. Send the message I'm about to transmit to every ship via the blue channel. It'll give every captain commands. I want you to be in charge since I'm here on Enterprise."

"There are higher ranking soldiers than me still alive I'm sure."

"Yes. And I don't trust a one of them. And according to every source I've checked, the other species want me in charge. So you'll answer directly to me."

"I see. But… what about the other captains? Won't they want a say in it?"

"I'll deal with it. Don't worry."

"I love you. I have to worry."

"I'll be fine. I'm out here and they're everywhere else."

Telev groaned, "I wish you wouldn't be so blasé about your own safety. It makes my blood pressure go up."

"Well then stop worrying! I'll be fine. If anything I should be worrying about you."

"They're not going to threaten me!"

"They will if they think it'll get something out of me."

"Well we both know what you'll have to do then."

"And that's why my blood pressure is going up."

Telev gave a little smile, "Good luck nelai."

"And you Telev." Shran cut the link, then sent the code through the blue channel. It was the most secure of the Andorian subspace channels and so far no one had been able to break into it, mainly because it had never been used before. It was easy to know it was important, because it was the colour of Andorian blood. Shran just hoped there were enough commanding officers on the Imperial Warships to get the word to spread.

"Right then." he huffed, "Legal, secure issue dealt with for now. Now its time for the fun, illegal stuff."

Shran was not looking forward to this.

* * *

Hope that was worth the wait. I'll try to have a new chapter soon.

Night's Darkness


	8. Chapter 8

Hi to anyone still reading this. I'm really sorry about the lack of updates, but other fics got in the way, plus, figuring out the details of the plot –such as the 'temporal mechanics' –was a tough job. Hope you enjoy this!

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"So… you and Ja- I mean, Daniels are still together?"

Henry sighed, shaking his head, "Not like that Jack. We never were really. We just went along with you and your quaint little 51st century ideas."

Jack grinned at Henry, "I think I've missed you Henry. And there's not a lot from my past I miss."

"Thank you?" Henry's antennas extended forwards to Jack. Jack had the urge to tickle one of them to make Henry giggle. It always set Jack off and soon there would be wrestling and snogging. But… maybe now wasn't the best time. Especially if he wanted Ianto to smile at him any time soon.

"You're welcome."

"So… immortal, captain, living in the 21st century, working for Torchwood, knows the Doctor… aside from all that, what's new in your life?"

"How did you know about all that? I did my level best to hide from the Time Agency."

"And, what? You think you were that good an agent you were able to just vanish?"

"I did… now I'm not so sure. What did you do Henry?"

"I… I may have infiltrated the Time Agency in order to switch records of your DNA with that of a nobody in Ancient Rome in my Universe. I may also have planted a few suggestions of your location which were not very accurate… to put it mildly."

"But, why? You could have gotten yourself killed, and we hadn't seen each other in years. I mean… we met during a transfer in the Time Academy and-"

"I always thought they could have given it a better name, something a little more interesting than Time Academy. Like… Hoggy-warty-trinian. Or something like that. Time Academy is so boring and-"

"Henry!"

Henry sighed and looked at Jack who raised his eyebrows, his eyes demanding an answer.

"You really need to know why I risked my neck to save you?"

"Yeah. I need to know why you thought I was worth it."

"Do you really need to ask?"

"…Oh." Jack was surprised to put it mildly. He and Henry had had fun, but Jack would never have thought that…

"We had so much fun Jack. Why shouldn't I have wanted to protect you?"

"Hell of a risk just for a friend."

"It was because you were a friend I took the risk."

"Andorian honour?"

"Not exactly. More… my conscience, good old Jiminy Cricket, reminding me that sometimes the establishment is wrong. As it turns out, more often than not it's very wrong."

"So… do you know why they took two years worth of my memories?"

"Afraid not. Best I could do was scramble the data. Didn't actually get to read it. Sorry."

"It's fine. I barely miss it anymore."

"Hard to miss what you don't remember, right?"

Jack chuckled, "Yeah, something like that."

"So… that Ianto… just how taken is he?"

"Probably not as much as I would like. He's mad with me. It's justifiable too."

"Ah… the hardest mad to squirm out of. What did you do?"

"Died, came back to life three days later, kissed him and then disappeared with the Doctor without telling him and leaving him thinking he meant nothing to me."

"Ah… that was dumb of you."

"Yeah. Yeah it was."

"Well… maybe he'll come around soon. After all, who can stay mad at you?"

"You'd be surprised. If anyone could maintain such a thing, it'd be Ianto."

"Well… have you screwed up before and he's forgiven you?"

Jack thought of Lisa, of how much pain had been in Ianto's eyes as the team shot her down. Ianto had forgiven him for that –in fact, Jack had a feeling that his pride was the only thing keeping him from thanking him for releasing him of that burden- but this was different. This time, Jack had been at fault completely. He knew Ianto was stronger than he looked, but even the strongest people had breaking points, and Ianto had been pushed so far in such a short time.

"Yeah, I've screwed up, but this was particularly spectacular."

"Well… you can only keep trying I've found, and with human males, they seem to appreciate sincere gestures, as opposed to meaningless words."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Oh yeah, you're human. Sorry, I always forget that you are."

"Well I'm sure as hell not a Judoon."

"Now there's a mental picture I don't need!"

Jack laughed, then turned his attention to his job. He and Henry were busy studying the radioactive remains, trying to determine what exactly caused the planets to be destroyed. Henry had a hunch it was a bomb, planted somewhere inside the planet, rather than an attack from space, but there was precious little evidence. They were using the data Enterprise had gathered on the Tellerite planets remains and comparing with data gathered by others at Andoria and Vulcan. They were just waiting now for the computer to finish analysing the spread and movement of the debris.

"I still don't get how a Dalek got here, or a Goa'uld. Neither exists here in this universe."

"Maybe they did what Daniels did to pick you –and subsequently a whole gaggle of others- up. They must have a dimension hopper of some description."

"With a much less amusing and appropriate name."

"Of course. It's always the way."

Jack chuckled as the computer beeped.

"Well?" asked Henry as Jack read the results and sighed,

"You were right. The spread of the debris indicates that it was something inside the planets that detonated. That's a hell of a bomb."

Henry frowned, staring into space, his antennas curling inwards. Jack could almost hear the wheels spinning inside his head.

"The computer hasn't picked up anything unusual, a metal or other material that shouldn't be there, has it?"

"It's still scanning the debris, why?"

"Think about it, whatever that bomb was made of would have had to endure temperatures almost as hot as the sun. The explosion occurred inside the planet, as in somewhere in the inner core, or the outer core. In all three planets, and in Earth, that's very hot. What kind of bomb would handle that sort of pressure and heat?"

"Dalek casing. It's strong enough to withstand a hell of a lot."

"Scan for it specifically." said Henry, folding his arms.

"What good will that do, we already knew the Dalek's were involved."

"Yeah, but there a chance we might be able to find some of the compound. Enough maybe to test it for chronotrons."

"The stuff of Time Travel. What are you thinking?"

"What if these things were beamed in from another time? There has to be some meddling with time, the fact that only this century has been affected makes that clear. So, where better to hide than in another time and send the weapon ahead or back in time to do the job you want?"

"So… we find the sample, we might be able to narrow down the search for Daleks and Goa'uld."

"Exactly."

"Sounds good to me," Jack pressed the comm. button, "Jack to Tucker."

"Here sir."

"I need you to send me and Henry the specifics on Dalek compounds. We're gonna scan for them."

"Can do, just a sec."

"How're you guys doing?"

"What's to do, it's a history lesson. All we can figure out so far is that Daleks and Goa'uld are not nice. But neither seem to have technology capable of crossing dimensions. The Goa'uld can't time travel either, except by accident. The Daleks can though and do. But God only knows how they got into our universe."

"Keep looking, there might be something we've missed."

"Will do. Tucker out."

* * *

"Now here's something very odd." The Doctor pulled at a few knobs on the TARDIS consol.

"What?" Daniels was at his side in an instant.

"There's some sort of energy signature that the TARDIS is registering as familiar. But it's not Dalek or anything I recognise."

"Where's it coming from?" asked Carter, looking over his shoulder.

"Not sure, somewhere in Time, but not now. It's… it's in the past."

"Can you be more specific? There's a lot of Past."

"I'm trying now."

As the Doctor fiddled with the buttons, Daniels comm. beeped.

"_Henry to Daniels."_

"Go ahead."

"_We've detected a Dalek compound among the debris. Can you ask the Doctor to use the TARDIS to get samples of it? Jack says they'll be more effective than anything we've got. We want to find out about the chronotrons in it. "_

"Will do."

Daniels relayed the message to the Doctor who at once set to work. Henry spoke up again,

"_Daniels, do you remember how far ahead of now the planets' loss extends."_

"Erm, didn't we determine that it was almost 100 years?"

"_Right, so… I'm just wondering…"_

"Yeees."

"_If the planets are gone… what happens in the future for this century?"_

Daniels frowned, wondering at that. "I don't know."

"_Do you think we should maybe investigate it? If we jump ahead, we might be able to find out more."_

"But we're having a direct effect on this Time Line. We run the risk of crossing our own paths."

"_I guess you're right… I just have this nagging feeling…"_

"Andorian intuition?"

"_Yeah, coupled with my Betazoid ancestry's habit of wanting to say 'I'm sensing something' all the time."_

Daniels rolled his eyes at the bad joke. "Well, we'll keep it in mind but I do think it's too risky."

"_Right, ok. Get those samples fast! Henry out."_

"Got them!" cheered the Doctor as Daniels deactivated his comm.

"Great. Now what are we looking for with them?"

"Chronotrons my dear." smiled the Doctor, "We're gonna use it like a return address on a letter. To figure out where this stuff came from."

* * *

"I don't understand, how can it be from two time periods?"

"We've got two samples of chronotrons and they registered as having two distinctive signatures. The further in time you travel, the more condensed the chronotrons become. So, when we ran the scan the two types came up, thus it has to be from two time periods."

"It's probable that the materials were taken from one time period and the bomb was constructed in another and then sent to this period. We're working on being more specific." Daniels's explained

"I also think we should jump forwards in this century. See what happens in the not-too-distant future." Henry piped up.

"I thought you said nothing happened." said Shran, eyeing Henry with a scowl.

"In our century, but this century is being contained in a bubble of some kind."

"Containing all the alterations that're being made so they can't affect all of Time." said Jack as if this made perfect sense.

"So… what'd happen if this 'bubble' burst?" asked O'Neill, casting wide eyes to everyone. Those that had some grasp of temporal mechanics looked very alarmed.

"Everything in the future would go haywire. We'd probably disappear, you might have ever been here."

"But… they are here." Shran looked from one to the other.

"But if we disappear in the future because we were never born, then there won't be anyone to come back in time and bring them here."

"But they're here now, you did it. You were born."

"It's time travel sir, it's complicated."

"Don't push me aside because you get it and I don't!" snapped Shran, jumping to his feet.

"Captain Shran." said the Doctor, jumping in before the Andorian erupted, "Just imagine that you put some… jam in a jar."

Shran looked at him like he was mad, but nodded his head. "Excellent, now, as long as that jar is kept closed, nothing will happen to the jam from outside, nothing will get in or out of it. But the jam itself might still go off if left long enough. That's what's happening. Time hasn't stopped inside this bubble –jar –thingy, it's still plodding along, although, that's only if you interpret it as linear, which it isn't, but say it was, the jammy goodness inside that is everything inside this century, including me explaining this Jam-Time thing to you, wouldn't be affecting anything outside the jar, so long as it stays inside the jar. But if the jar cracks, then it's all messy and ew and we've got a big mess on our hands."

Shran stared at him for quite a long few moments, then slowly sat down,

"I don't know how, but that actually made sense."

"The Doctor's good like that." said Jack, grinning.

"Oh well…" the Doctor preened, giving Jack a cheeky grin. Ianto rolled his eyes. Henry kicked Jack on the ankle. Hard.

"Ow!" hissed Jack, as the group spoke amongst themselves.

"Focus on one man, man! You said you wanted to kiss and make up."

"Yeah, but I'm not gonna stop being myself."

Henry rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot my friend." Henry moved away from Jack. Jack huffed, then glanced at Ianto. The young Welshman was staring at the desk. His face was blank, but Jack could read him pretty well by now. He was upset about something. But before Jack could ask him what it was, the Doctor spoke.

"Right, I'm going to go and see if I can find the origin of the bomb, the TARDIS might have better luck than you Time Agency lot. Plus she's the most robust of the vessels. Mr. Quinn, would you like to come with me?"

Jonas glanced at O'Neill, who shrugged, letting the younger man choose. Jonas pursed his lips, then grinned, "Sure, I'd love to."

"Brilliant! Mr. Jones, would you like to come?"

Ianto blinked, then pointed at himself, "What, me?"

'_What, him?'_ thought Jack, alarmed, as the Doctor said,

"Yeah, c'mon, travel through time, help save some planets, it'll be fun!"

Ianto took longer than Jonas to answer. But then he glanced at Jack and his eyes hardened. "Yeah, I'm in."

"Excellent, meanwhile, Jack, why don't you and Henry bounce forward, see if you can find out anything that could be useful. And make sure you don't do anything to make things worse."

"Yes Master." Henry rolled his eyes. The Doctor's darkened as Jack pulled a face.

"No, don't do that."

"What? Call you master?"

"Yes, don't do that."

Jack hid a shudder. The memories of the Master's sadistic tortures were too fresh. His eyes flicked to Ianto again, and a wave of relief flowed through him to see the young man alive. Ianto refused to look at him though.

"Ok. Not gonna ask about THAT." said Henry, shaking his head.

"What about the rest of us? We're just to sit tight?" asked O'Neill.

The comm. beeped.

"Bridge to Captain Shran."

Shran pressed the button. "Shran here."

"Transmission coming through for you. It's Captain Telev. He says it's urgent."

"I'll take it in my quarters, Shran out." Shran got to his feet. "If you'll excuse me." and he walked out of the room. Archer got to his feet.

"I should check in with Starfleet."

T'Pol also stood. "I will speak with Ambassador Soval. We must ensure as much stability as we can, despite the current situation." They both left.

"We'll go too. See what we can find out." said Jack, rising to his feet. Henry went to his side and held up his transporter.

"Hold on." the Andorian said. Jack grinned and threw his arms around the other man's waist. "That's just not classy!" Henry transported them away.

"Right, we'll be off then. As for the rest of you, I'm sure there's something you can do."

"You could find out how they got into the universe. Maybe they used something you've seen before. With all the experience in this room, it's very possible." suggested Ianto, shrugging. Carter's brow furrowed, and then her eyes lit up.

"Right. Or you could see if they have any bananas. Bananas are good. C'mon then."

Jonas and Ianto both followed the Doctor. They'd no sooner left than carter turned to O'Neill, her eyes wide.

"Sir. I think I may know how the Goa'uld got into this universe."

"Oh?"

"Yes sir. We've been investigating this with the mindset that there are no Goa'uld in this universe and there never has been."

"But there have!" blurted Daniel. O'Neill's eyes rounded in horror.

"No. No!"

"But sir-"

"Carter! No! He's dead. Smurfy killed him. And kicked his face in. So no. It can't be him."

"Perhaps not O'Neill. But such a possibility must be investigated." said Teal'c, raising an eyebrow. O'Neill grimaced.

"No it doesn't!"

* * *

Now that a lot has been set up, it should be more regular in updates, as now the ball is rolling. Any comments are very much appreciated.

Night's Darkness


End file.
